


Seasons change, but people... Do too I guess.

by neonxo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Childhood Friends, Drinking, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Pining, Reader is an artist, Slow Burn, Smut, its got it all babyyy, post college
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:47:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25477159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neonxo/pseuds/neonxo
Summary: You and Tsukishima had been friends for years but upon the arrival of a very special invitation, your relationship takes a sudden change. Will your long-harbored crush for your best friend finally come into the light? Or will your relationship be altered for good?Aka, Reader is an artist who is in love with Tsukki, there's angst, there are laughs, there are three established captain relationships! What more could a person want?
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Tsukishima Kei/Reader
Comments: 14
Kudos: 169





	1. Prologue

You’d known Tsukishima Kei for about as long as you’d been someone worth knowing. Growing up, you were a lonely kid, not really knowing how to make friends since you were so withdrawn. You spent most of your time in elementary school colouring, or making something out of nothing just to pass the time until you could go home and draw in your bedroom. It wasn’t until high school that you broke out of this loner routine of yours. When your parents first brought up the prospect of moving halfway across the country before starting high school, you were hesitant, but then you started to see the potential for a new start. You’d be at a brand new school, without anyone from elementary or middle school that had a preconceived notion of who you were. It was the truest opportunity to become the person you’d always wanted to be, you’d had it in you, you’d just needed the chance. 

It was here, at Nekoma Highschool that you’d met Kuroo Tetsurõ and his best friend Kenma Kozume. From the moment that you and Kuroo met he had taken you under his wing, walking you to your first class after you’d been standing in the middle of the hallway with a confused look on your face. Kenma had trailed behind him, phone in one hand and the other in his pocket the whole time, without a word. From that day on, you’d eaten lunch with Kuroo and Kenma every day until Kuroo graduated and even after that, you and Kenma continued to eat lunch together every day silently until he graduated too. Eventually, you were eating lunch alone again. However, you were not wholly alone, you did have the odd few lunchtime texts to keep you company mainly from one tall, blonde Karasuno student that you’d met back in your first year at Nekoma. 

The first time you and Tsukishima met wasn’t exactly friendly. You’d been dragged to a party by Kuroo for the end of the volleyball season. 

“Since Kenma won’t come, and I can’t arrive alone” supposedly, but you figured it was more so because Kuroo knew you needed to start making friends outside of the two of them. You didn’t disagree with this, but you just wished he wouldn’t insult your intelligence by making up another excuse for it. You’d gone along, reluctantly, and had very quickly been left alone by Kuroo in the kitchen when he spotted Bokuto from across the room. He’d patted your shoulder lightly and said “I’m gonna go say hey to Bo (y/n), just hang out, talk to some people”. You’d known what he was doing, he was trying to throw you in the deep end. You loved Kuroo but sometimes his methods to get you to be a little more outgoing were less than orthodox. 

“I’ve got to try and force one of you to be social,” he’d said to you one day at lunch “I’m not exactly gonna get Pudding Head here to do it”. He gestured a thumb towards Kenma who just barely looked from his phone to shake his head slightly. So that was it, for the next year of him being in school with you at least, you had become Kuroo’s project. It was sweet in a way, that he wanted to make sure that you had friends that could keep you company when he and Kenma would eventually have to leave but you don’t think he’d ever had Tsukishima in mind when he thought about you attaching yourself to any of his friends. But nevertheless, when you strolled awkwardly into the kitchen that fateful day, Tsukishima was the first person you made eye contact with. 

You can remember it like it was yesterday, he was leaning up against the counter, a red cup in hand scanning the party through the door with a completely indifferent look on his face. When his eyes landed on you, he could not have looked less interested in engaging you socially in any way but despite the completely uninviting look, you swallowed hard and walked over to him slowly. 

“Hi,” your voice was light and a little anxious, but he didn’t seem to notice. In fact, he barely noticed anything about you, he just looked straight through you. There was nothing particularly malicious about his gaze, it was just one of complete disinterest in your existence. You had begun to wonder whether you should introduce yourself when Kuroo and Bokuto came laughing into the room.

“(y/n)!” Bokuto exclaimed loudly, you smiled, glad to be in the presence of someone a little friendlier.

“Hey, Bo! It’s good to see you again,” you said a little louder than the greeting you’d given Tsukishima and stretched your arms out letting him hug you, taking your whole body in his giant form. You’d only met Bokuto a handful of times when he’d accompanied you and Kuroo to hang out when Kenma wasn’t feeling it, but he’d always been very kind to you. You figured that that was just the type of person that Bokuto was, the type to become best friends with everyone instantly. You wished you could be like that. 

“I see you’ve met Tsukki!” Kuroo smiled gesturing to the blonde in front of you.

“Uh yeah, kinda I’m (y/n) by the way” you started to stick your hand out but Tsukishima just looked at it like it was some kind of dead animal so you let it fall back to your side. 

“Oh come on Tsukki! Be nice!” Bokuto exclaimed, slapping him on the back which caused Tsukishima’s lip to curl a little. Just then, you heard someone call Bokuto and Kuroo from the back yard, where it seemed most of the party was taking place. They both began to follow the source of the voice before Bokuto turned around again and walked backward and pointed at Tsukishima. “Be nice!” he called again this time Tskukishima rolled his eyes, looked you up and down, and finally talked. 

“C’mon, let's get you a drink so you don't look so awkward”. You’d followed Tsukishima to the other end of the kitchen to where the drinks were, you waited silently while Tsukishima poured something fruity-looking into a cup and thrust it towards you. You took it and inhaled it a little, an unmistakable scent had hit your nose. 

“Alcohol?” you asked him, instantly regretting how innocent you sounded. He’d looked at your eyebrows raised with the tiniest curve in his lips that you would have missed if you weren't fast enough.

“That’s kind of what makes it a party,” Tsukishima said, placing his own cup to his lips and taking a swig. You followed suit. The liquid tasted like candy but burned your chest as it went down. 

“It’s good,” you smiled, trying to be friendly.

“It’s sugar and alcohol,” he replied in a deadpan tone “those things tend to mix pretty well”. You nodded in agreement. You both stood in silence for a few minutes, listening to the faded music that was coming from the living room before he spoke again. 

“So what are you anyway?” You looked up from where you’d been staring at your shoes and met his gaze.

“Sorry?” he rolled his eyes and leaned in so his mouth was close to your ear. 

“So what are you? Nekoma’s manager or something?” his voice was low and it sent a small shiver down your spine.

“Uh no,” you replied, “I’m just friends with Tetsurõ, we go to school together”. He didn’t make any attempt to reply for a while, but eventually he looked like he had gotten bored of watching his teammates dance around in the living room and turned his attention back to you. 

“So what do you do?” he asked, you were a little confused by the question.

“What do you mean?” you replied, trying to make sense of the character in front of you. He began to look annoyed again. _Man this guy didn’t have any patience_ you’d thought. 

“Well, I play volleyball. Middle block and most of the people here do that too.” he looked out over the crowd in the living room again, a small guy with black and blonde hair was downing some kind of beverage and everyone was cheering him along. Then he turned his gaze to you and asked again.

“So what do you do?”. You paused for a moment, you’d never been asked something so existential before, especially not by a complete stranger, but the answer seemed like a pretty obvious one nonetheless. 

“I make art,” you said, meeting his golden eyes again. For the first time that night, he didn’t seem annoyed by your presence. He seemed, dare you say, interested in you. He raised an eyebrow at you,

“Are you any good?” 

After that, the two of you spend the rest of the night chatting, or as much as could be considered chatting when it came to talking with Tsukishima. There were multiple times when you’d spend minutes on end in silence, but neither of you seemed to mind and at the end of the night when Kuroo came looking for you he seemed surprised you’d managed to put up with Tsukishima for the entire night. 

“I can barely put up with him for a few hours of practicing, you spent an entire party with the guy!” he laughed and shook his head as you walked home together under the inky summer sky. 

  
  


The next time you hung out with Tsukishima was at Kuroo’s place. He’d invited a bunch of people over on a long weekend for a movie marathon, it was one of the few events that Kenma had agreed to attend since it didn’t really require him to socialize at all. He could just sit, knees hugged to his chest leaning against Kuroo as you all watched countless movies in the dark together. About halfway through the night, you’d gotten up to go to get a drink in the kitchen when you’d heard someone walk in behind you. You turned and saw Tsukishima looking more annoyed than usual. In his hand he was holding his glasses, one of the arms had broken off from its hinge. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and muttered a small _“Dammit”_ under his breath. 

“What happened?” you asked as though you weren’t already aware of his presence. Apparently he actually wasn’t aware of yours either as he looked up a little startled before relaxing back into an annoyed face. 

“They just broke in two, I didn’t even _do_ anything.” You put down your drink and walked over to where he was standing before reaching out your hand. 

“May I?” you asked, he nodded and handed the glasses to you. Look studied them for a moment before nodding and adding a “Yup!”.

“Yup? What does that mean?” he asked, arms folded still just as frustrated as before.

“I can rig these until you’re able to get home to fix them for real, or get new ones”.

“Really?” there was a genuine interest in his voice now and you rolled your eyes at the boy's distrust in your abilities. You walked back towards the living room and popped your head around the door. 

“Hey Tetsuro, I’m gonna go back to my place for a sec. Tsukki’s glasses broke and I’m gonna fix them for him til’ he can replace them.” Kuroo didn’t reply, he just gave you a thumbs up with the hand that was now wrapped around Kenma’s shoulder. You shook your head and wondered when those two would ever actually act on their feelings. 

“Wait!” Tsukishima called from behind you and followed you out into the hallway where you were heading to the door. “Where are you going?”

“Oh, my house is like a minute away. I don’t have the supplies here to fix these, Tetsurõ is unsurprisingly not very crafty” you replied. Tsukishima shook his head and furrowed his brow. 

“No way, I barely know you. I’m not trusting you with my property.” 

“I’m not going to steal your glasses Tsukki, calm down,” you said rolling your eyes. 

“It’s Tsukishima,” he replied, “and I’m coming with you”.

“Fine, let's go asshole” his lips curved slightly at that. “We’ll be back!” You called. 

“Kay!” Kuroo replied.

“Bye Tsukki-poo!” Bokuto yelled which made you giggle and made Tsukishima scoff as you walked out the door. 

You’d walked to your place in virtual silence, you’d offered to guide Tsukishima with your hand on his arm since he wasn’t wearing his glasses but he’d just said 

“I’m not wearing my glasses, I’m not completely blind” which you’d taken as a no. When you got to your house, you unlocked the door and were greeted by the emptiness, your parents were out of town often, one of the reasons you’d always enjoyed hanging out at Kuroo’s place, there was always more company there. You headed up the stairs to your room and Tsukishima followed you, when you got to your room you headed straight to your desk and flipped on the small desk lamp. You looked at Tsukishima’s glasses with more intensity now, he stood behind you silently for a moment, before asking. 

“Well, can you fix it?”

“Hand me that box” you waved your hand behind you at the small plastic box that was on the ground, propping up a pile of canvases, each with its own discarded painting on it that you’d abandoned for a myriad of reasons with every intention of getting back to. Tsukishima picked up the box and handed it to you letting the canvases clatter to the ground. 

“You should really clean up here, having a messy workspace is counter-productive,” he said, looking around your room, which was littered with empty spray paint cans, old paint water jars and discarded sketchbook pages. 

“Hey I don’t come to your gym and start criticizing the way you bounce the ball around,” you say, fully immersed in rooting around in the box he’d handed you.

“That’s basketball, there’s not really much bouncing in volleyball. I’m surprised you don’t know that being around Kuroo all the time” he replies, tone flat.

“Not much of a sports person, so he doesn’t even try with me anymore” you’re applying a small amount of clear glue to the arm of his glasses now and line it up with the rest of the glasses and hold it there for a few seconds while the glue dries. Tsukishima stands behind you silently, watching how your face stares intently at the project in your hands, he wondered how someone could be so entrenched in gluing two pieces of metal together. After a few moments of silence, you jump up from your desk chair.

“That should do it!” you say turning and place the glasses on Tsukishima’s face. He tenses at the sudden contact but relaxes when he realizes what you’re doing. He blinked for a minute as his eyes adjusted to his glasses but once he realized they weren't going to fall off again he pressed his lips together and looked at you. 

“They’re pretty ok, I guess” you chuckle a little, amused by the lengths this guy would go to not to be nice to you.

“You’re welcome _Tsukki-poo_ ” he shoots you daggers.

“ _Don’t_ call me that” he replies, and hold up your hands in defense.

“Okay fine, then what should I call you?” you ask.

“My name is Tsukishima, that's when everyone calls me” 

“But that's no fun! I want my own name for you!” You wiggle your eyebrows a little, and he rolls his eyes. 

“Fine… my first name is Kei” you smile brightly, you hadn’t expected him to comply so easily but you figured it was his way of repaying you for your help. 

“Well then, you’re very welcome _Kei_ ” you giggle a little after saying it and he sighs.

“God I’m regretting this already”.

From that moment on you and Kei had become closer than you’d ever been with anyone before. In your final year of high school you would spend your lunch hours sketching Nekoma’s buildings and texting Kei, which wasn’t exactly what Kuroo had intended when he’d wanted you to make friends but he was happy with whatever worked for you. Eventually, when you both went to university it just kind of worked out that you both went to the same school. Albeit Kei was a business major, who lived on the fancy side of campus taking financial classes and classes that required a lot of studying. While you were an art major, living on the older side of campus spending your time painting and attending classes on impressionism. You still spent most of your time together though. 

You would sit in Kei’s dorm, perched on the sill of his window sketching the old campus buildings while he studied fiscal years or whatever you really didn’t have much of a clue what he was really doing, but it worked. And when you both moved to the city after you graduated, it was pure coincidence that you would start working at a gallery that was just a few streets from his new big fancy corporate internship. You’d even be lucky enough to get a workspace above the gallery for a reduced price because of your employment there, and Kei and your apartments just happened to be within walking distance of each other. 

Looking back, if you were a more spiritual person you would have thought that the universe was trying to push you together at any opportunity it got, like it was giving you a sign that the two of you should be more than just friends. But after almost seven and a half years of friendship, nothing had ever moved past just that with the two of you. Sure, it was a very intimate friendship, but it never went beyond that. You’d spent countless nights tossing and turning, thinking about what could be between you two, but you always came to the same conclusion. You didn’t want to hurt your friendship. So you’d left it at that, you were happy with your and Kei’s friendship. Of course part of you would always want more but you decided that it wasn’t even worth considering since he had made no attempt to express that he felt the same. 

That was until one day when you got a rather official-looking envelope in the mail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'm really having a great time writing this! Kudos and comments are so rewarding if you feel so inclined! I hope you enjoy it! :)


	2. Watercolour Cats

You screeched, audibly screeched when you’d first opened the beautiful pearl coloured envelope with gold embossed letters on the front. It was exactly what you thought it might be, but that didn’t mean that you could contain your excitement any easier. Inside the envelope was a card littered with small watercolor paintings of cats (your handy work, by the way) with beautiful gold lettering that read:

_ “Dear (Y/L/N Y/N) you are cordially invited to the wedding of your friends, _

_ Kuroo Tetsurõ and Kenma Kozume. _

_ Saturday 18th at 3’oclock.” _

Below was the information about RSVP and plus-ones, but you knew all the information already; you were just excited that the invite had finally arrived. You’d known that Kuroo was going to propose for months but just hadn’t had the right opportunity yet. You also knew that the only way he could agree to Kenma going ahead with a real wedding was if he planned everything in advance so that he didn’t have to worry about meetings with florists or bakers. So that's what he’d done, with the help of you and a few others Kuroo had planned his and Kenma’s entire wedding before he even popped the question. Of course, there was no doubt in anyone’s head that Kenma would say no. He and Kuroo had begun dating right after high school and it was about time that they made some kind of commitment. But once every detail was planned and every deposit had been paid, the only thing left for Kuroo to do was to ask. You’d begged him to call you when he eventually popped the question, but he’d just laughed and said

“I love you (y/n) but I think it would kind of ruin the moment if I suddenly celebrated my engagement by calling you. I’ll send out the invites the next morning, you’ll know by the end of the week”. And that you had, the invite had arrived in the mail the very next day after Kuroo had said he would propose, and you could not be giddier. 

You took out your phone and called the most recent contact in your phone, the phone trilled for a second and then a very bored voice picked up.

“I told you not to call me at work, I don’t have time to chat with you during the day,” Kei said, but made no attempt to hang up the phone so you proceeded.

“Kei! Did you get it? Did you get yours?” you squealed. You could hear him tensing up at the tone on the other end. 

“And what exactly is that I’m supposed to have got?” He asked as if this wasn’t something you’d both been waiting for for weeks. Well, more so you than Kei, but he’d had to listen to you talk about it constantly. 

“Your invite Kei. Did you get your invite?” you heard him click his tongue and the shuffle around his desk a little. He read the same words that were on your invite out loud.

“You are cordially invited to the wedding of your friends, Kuroo Tetsurõ and Kenma Kozume.” 

“Yes!”

“I’m not going,” he replied completely uninterested in your excitement. You scoffed,

“You abso-fucking-lutely are Tsukishima Kei” you knew he would be difficult about this, even though he helped plan the fucking thing. 

“It's all unnecessary. They’ve been together for years, why have a party now?”

“It’s not a party, Kei. It’s a  _ wedding _ ” you clarified.

“Same difference, besides who puts cats on a wedding invite. Their heads are weirdly shaped too.”

“I drew those cats you asshole!” 

“I know,” you could hear the smirk in his voice. 

“Keeeei” you begged.

“No”

“Pleeeeeaaase,” you begged again. He was silent this time and let you continue “We haven’t done anything fun in months. Besides, you’re Kuroo’s friend too and I know for a fact that he wants you there, plus-” you paused. 

“Go on,” he pressed as if he already knew what was coming.

“I think this will really help me get over Ren,” you say. You can feel him rolling his eyes, Ren was your boyfriend of the past three years and you’d broken up just over a month ago. You were devastated when it happened but never really got an explanation as to why it did. Kei had found you after a couple of days of no replies sitting on the floor of your apartment weeping. He’d sat with you all night, letting you vent, before sending you to shower and buying you dinner. You hadn’t talked about it since then.

“Oh my god”

“It's true!” 

“What does that have to do with me?” he asked, you could hear him typing on his computer now. He’d obviously realized that you weren’t going to let him get back to work.

“Because Kei! It's a wedding, I can’t go alone, that would be pathetic!”

“So you’re asking me to be your date now?” there was a small amount of evil delight in his voice, but you didn’t waver.

“Yes, I suppose I am.” He paused and you waited in the silence.

“Fine, but you’re paying for gas  _ and  _ buying dinner when the food is crappy” you squealed again and he huffed.

“Thank you Kei! You’re the best!” He didn’t reply, just hung up. You stood in your quiet apartment beaming to yourself, you had to call Kuroo.

You spent what felt like weeks planning for the wedding. Finding the perfect gift, making sure that Kei actually had something nice to wear, you even made him come along to help you pick out a dress which he was the opposite of thrilled about. You were about four dresses deep when you finally came out in a small dark green number, it hugged your waist well and the skirt was plenty full for a wedding.

“What about this one?” you turned to Kei who was sitting in a chair just outside the dressing room tapping through his phone boredly. He took one fairly indifferent glance at you and said

“It’s good.” You sighed and smoothed the fabric against your palms, in his defense this was the best answer you’d gotten all day.

“Really?” you asked, “you don't think its too-”

“Slutty?” he interrupted an evil grin on his lips. You hit him across the back of the head.

“I was going to say revealing” you turned to look at the back of the dress, it did cut a little shorter than you’d usually like. You sighed and waited for him to reply. He looked you up and down again and rolled his eyes.

“It’s shorter than the rest, yes but not by much. Plus it's a summer wedding” a rather pleased smile grew across your face. He saw how delighted you were with his genuine reasoning behind the choice.

“I’ve been around you long enough to know what kinds of things you like to hear,” he said plainly “Don’t start thinking that I actually care about what you wear.” But you just kept your bright smile and bounced back into the dressing room to change. You had your dress, now all you had to do was actually get him to go. 

When you got to the wedding that day, you weren’t exactly shocked at how beautiful it looked. Rather, you were just reminded of the incredible taste that Kuroo had hiding somewhere in the back of his dumb jock brain. The wedding was simple, minimal flowers with lots of white and small red accents everywhere. Both Kuroo and Kenma wore black with small red hibiscus in their lapels. The ceremony was short, intentionally you figured so that Kenma didn’t have to stand in front of so many people for too long. But he looked probably the most relaxed you had ever seen him while not sitting in front of his computer, it was pretty amazing really. You and Kei sat near Bokuto and Akaashi, one of whom cried the entire way through the ceremony. You’d laughed quietly when Kei turned to Bokuto next to him and whispered 

“I never pegged you as the romantic type Bo” Bokuto looked at him through teary eyes and nodded his head in response. Akaashi laughed and placed his hand on Bokuto’s to calm him a little. 

Before you knew it the ceremony was ending, and just as the priest was finishing up his last words you turned to Kei and asked him something softly. 

“You don’t actually believe that do you?” you asked, just loud enough for him to hear. 

“Believe what?” he asked in a low voice.

“What you said on the phone before, do you really think that weddings are unnecessary?” He thought for a moment, and then shrugged just enough for you to see. 

With that, Kuroo and Kenma were kissing lightly and a small blush was rising in Kenma's cheeks, the whole room erupted in applause and the two began to walk down the aisle. As you rose to leave, Kei’s lips found their way to your ear again 

“I suppose it works for some people, you know if you find the right person.” The words sent electricity down your spine,  _ what was he insinuating?  _

The reception was a little more Kuroo and Kema than the wedding had been. There was apple pie instead of cake and a small row of arcade games in the corner of the room, something that Kuroo had been insistent on in order to do something for Kenma. After everyone gave their speeches and the “surprisingly not the crappy” food was served ( _ Kei’s words not yours).  _ Everyone began to make their way to the dancefloor besides the two of you and a few others. You watched as Bokuto swung Akaashi around wildly while Akaashi merely complied with whatever his boyfriend was doing with a small smile on his face. There were a few of the guys from Kei’s old volleyball team here, but he made no attempt to talk to any of them. It wasn’t until a tall boy with dark hair and freckles made his way over to the table that the two of you even noticed he was there.

“Yamaguchi!” you cried, completely delighted. He smiled kindly and wrapped you in a hug.

“It’s so good to see you!”

“You too (y/n)! It’s good to see you too Tsukki!” Yamaguchi paused for a response.

“Hey” Kei offered and you rolled your eyes. Yamaguchi just chuckled.

“You haven’t changed Tsukki I can tell you that” you laughed along with Yamaguchi before it was Kei’s turn to roll his eyes at you.

“I’m getting a drink, do you guys want anything?” Yamaguchi shook his head, but you offered to go with him. The two of you headed to the bar, pushing through the large crowds to a man in a vest and tie who was serving the drinks. Kei ordered for the both of you and you stood close to him you both watched the bartender make your drinks. 

“You could be a little nicer to Yamaguchi you know,” you said it lightly but he knew you were serious. 

“I was plenty nice,” he replied, his eyes on anything but you.

“Kei, he was your best friend i-”

“Yeah, in high school, but we’re not in high school anymore are we?” he was a little more pointed this time, and you felt it in your chest. 

“So what? We were friends in high school and we still are now, or is that not what we are?” Kei was silent for a minute and met your eyes with his golden ones, you could see that he was thinking but you weren’t exactly sure about what.

“No,” he replied.

“No?”

“No, that's not what we are. You’re just the crazy girl who seems to have never left me alone since first year” he smiled into his newly freshened drink and you scoffed.

“Well that's just rude,” you whipped your head around dramatically, trying to act outraged. You heard him chuckle and it made your cheeks warm. 

Then you felt his finger tapping your elbow, you sighed and tried to look distant and dramatic.

“I’m not talking to you until you apologize Kei,” you said and suddenly felt him pressed close to your back. Your heart raced and blush rose up your neck as you felt every inch of him pressed against you, if you didn’t know him any better you would have thought he might be enjoying it as much as you did. With that, he leaned down to your height and brought his mouth to your ear for the third time today. 

“Let’s dance.” Your eyes widened as you twisted around, you looked at his face that had returned to it’s normal height.

“You don’t dance,” you said, eyes narrowed. He sipped his drink again. 

“No, but you do and it’s a wedding.” You still looked unsure so he rolled his eyes “Plus it’s a slow song which is safe and it will get you to stop sulking” you couldn't argue with that. 

You let him guide you over to the dance floor where everybody else was swaying in each other's arms. You smiled, a little nervous, you always liked to dance at parties but you were never much of a slow dancer. But you let Kei pull you in effortlessly and place his hand on your hip and hold your other hand in his. You brought your spare hand to his shoulder and let him guide you around the dancefloor slowly. For someone who didn’t ever dance, Kei was surprisingly good at it, it had even left you a little flustered when he managed to spin you around flawlessly in time with the music. You smiled up at him, and figured your look must have been an intrigued one because he asked,

“What?” you held your tongue for a minute but figured it was safe to address it.

“You can dance” your voice had more disbelief in it than you intended and Kei rolled his eyes.

“It would seem so, yes” 

“I didn’t know you could dance” he spun you around again before you could say anything else and then came close to your ear again.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me (y/n)” your breath hitched in your throat before you brought your head to rest on his shoulder, deciding it was too dangerous to antagonize him when he had you in such a state. 

When the song ended, Kei stopped and you looked up at him. His golden eyes looked softer than you had ever seen them, the light of the hotel ballroom bouncing off his glasses just enough to make them twinkle. Your heart swelled as you thought about the last seven years of your friendship together and finally, the words he’d said to you at the wedding earlier that day returned to your head. 

“I suppose it works for some people, you know if you find the right person”.

Your heart stopped, how could you have been so stupid. 

He was just about to ask if you were okay when you grabbed his hand and mumbled something that sounded like “Come with me”. Before you knew it you were out in the quiet hallway, the music from inside muffled by the large doors, it was cool out here and you shivered a little from the sudden change. 

“(y/n)?” Kei asked, he sounded a little annoyed but confused more than anything. 

“Just, give me a second Kei,” your own voice was muffled in your ears. Everything suddenly felt completely hazy but also clear as day. God, how could you be so stupid? All these years you’d been trying to preserve your friendship, thinking that Kei had no interest in you whatsoever but you knew now that wasn’t true. He’d come with you tonight, he’d laughed with you and held you while you danced together. He liked you. 

~

“(y/n)? We can go, leave, if you’re not having a good time” he began “seriously if you’re going to be we-”. He was cut off by your lips crashing into his. He was tense for a moment, completely confused as to what the fuck was happening. But when he felt your hand lace into his hair, he relaxed a little. You stood there holding each other in a kiss for what felt like an eternity before breaking away to breathe. You looked deep into his eyes and smiled, your eyes were filled with tears. But Kei was too dumbfounded by what had just happened to even notice, he looked on at you blankly trying to process what had just happened. 

“Kei?” he looked at you for real this time, fully coming to terms with what had just happened. You’d kissed him. 

“I can't do this” he heard himself saying before he could even think about it. 

“What?” he knew you’d heard him. “Kei what are you talking about, isn’t this what you wanted?”

“Yes,” he replied without hesitation.  _ Fuck, what was he doing? _

“Then what’s wro-”

“We can’t. Not now, I can’t” before he knew it he was backing away from you. He cursed himself as his arms disconnected from your waist.

“I’m sorry,” you said, you were crying fully and his heart tore in two, “I thought this was what you wanted”. You were looking down at your shoes now, just like he used to watch you do when you were younger.  _ God, he was an idiot.  _

“I’m sorry (y/n), I just ca-”

“ _ Can’t.  _ I fucking get it Kei” you spat at him eyes averted. He’d never seen you look this broken in his life and he’d caused it. You turned away from him and began to shake, all he wanted to do right now was hold you. Hold you, and apologize and kiss you again,  _ but he couldn’t.  _ After another beat of silence, you sniffled and turned your head just enough so he could hear your broken words.

“Just  _ go  _ Kei. Leave,  _ please”.  _ His heart shattered at the finality of your words, but he did as you said and left without another word. 

~

After you heard the large door to the wedding swing shut behind you, you began to sob. You tried to stop yourself, you told yourself to breathe, but any air that came out of you was broken and hitched. At some point, you had managed to walk yourself over to the large spiral staircase nearby and perch yourself on the steps, before crumbling into tears again. How could you have been so stupid? Of course, Kei didn’t want you, you’d been friends for years if he was in any way interested in you by now he would have done something. God you were an idiot. In one night you had managed to lose your best friend just by giving into a feeling that you’ve been harbouring for years. You thought about how sad he looked, how confused and shocked his face was as you pulled away. You thought about how your heart shattered when he pulled his hands from your hips. What the fuck had you done? You’d ruined everything. 

You sat for what felt like forever, weeping silently to yourself when eventually you heard the doors to the wedding swing open again. There was a small part of you that had prayed he’d come back. That he’d just been scared and that he really did want to be with you, but you weren’t so lucky. You looked up from where you sat and there in the doorway was Bokuto, the smile fading from his face as he saw the tears coating your own. He rushed over to you.

“Hey, hey, hey, what happened are you okay?” he sat next to you and put a hand on your knee, but the sudden comfort just made you cry even more. 

“I-it’s K-Kei” you managed to get out after a few minutes. 

“What happened? Was he an asshole to you? God that fucking guy” Bokuto put his arm around you and began to curse Kei out, but you shook your head. 

“N-no, it was me. I r-ruined it Bo” you sniffled your head resting on his chest now. 

“Ruined what (y/n)?” he asked innocently as if your whole world hadn’t crumbled around you not ten minutes ago. 

“Us. Me and h-him, everything we had. It’s gone.” Bokuto sighed and pulled you in closer.

“Don’t be crazy, you guys have been friends since high school. I’m sure it wasn’t that bad” you shook your head again.

“I ruined it, Bo. I ruined it”. Those were the only words you managed to get out for the rest of the night. At some point, Bokuto had carried you up the spiral staircase of the hotel to a room. He placed you on the bed lightly and then sat down on the one next to you. 

“Stay here with me and Kaashi tonight, we’ll keep an eye on you”. You nodded, too weak to protest. He sat on the bed next to you for a while, just watching. Eventually, your eyes grew too heavy for even tears to fight off and you fell into an unrestful sleep. 

The next morning, you awoke to dappled sunlight dancing across your face. For a moment, you had completely forgotten what had happened between you and Kei last night, it wasn’t until you heard a familiar voice whispering somewhere nearby that it all came flooding back.

“I don’t know Kaashi, she wouldn’t say. She just kept saying she’d ruined things” it was Bokuto. You cringed and tried to squeeze your eyes closed even tighter to make it go away.

“Do you think he tried something?” it was a different voice now, one a little softer than Bokuto’s, you heard Akaashi sit down on the bed next to you.

“No, I doubt it, Tsukki’s an asshole but not that type” there was a silence, you figured that they were looking at you. This was as good a time as any to make your presence known. You sat up slowly and groaned a little. You were met by Akaashi’s soft eyes, and Bokuto’s expecting ones. 

“Hey,” you said, voice a little hoarse from all the crying last night. Akaashi handed you a warm mug.

“Here, tea will help” and smiled up at him softly. 

“Thanks, I’m sorry if I intruded on you guys last night” you took a sip of the tea and tried to focus on how warm it made you feel. 

“Oh don’t worry about that” Bokuto said, a little too loudly for your sensitive head, “we’re just worried about you that's all”.

“Bo” Akaashi snapped trying to be quiet about it.

“It’s ok, I appreciate your guys’ concern,” you said, setting you tea on the side and getting up to stretch. Akaashi nodded and sipped from his own mug.

“Are you okay then?” he asked, you hadn’t expected the question to hit you so hard. You plopped back down on the back.

“No,” you could only be honest here, they’d already seen the kind of state you were in last night. Bokuto sighed and came to sit next to you,

“You have to tell us what happened (y/n), did he do something?” you shook your head hard, you didn’t want there to be any confusion as to who was at fault here. 

“He didn’t do anything, it was me” Bokuto looked confused because he knew Kei, and he knew the kind of asshole he could be and he never expected that you could have been the one to cause this damage. 

“I kissed him” you peeked over to look at both Bokuto and Akaashi, but they were both staring at each other silently. 

“And that's bad because?”

“You don’t understand Bo, I kissed him and I didn’t say anything at first I thought he liked me, between the wedding and the dress and the dancing” you were on your feet pacing around the room now “and then what he said, a-at the reception I thought it meant something”. 

You looked to Bokuto and Akaashi for some kind of understanding but you were left with two vacant looks. You sighed and leaned back against the wall.

“I led him out into the hall after we danced, and I kissed him” you closed your eyes, replaying everything in your head “and he… he rejected me. He pushed me away and said he couldn’t. I tried to push him for a reason but he just kept saying he couldn’t. And then he left”.

You looked at Bokuto and Akaashi again and now their faces looked solemn. You laughed bitterly

“I never should have assumed he liked me”. 

“(y/n) no!” Bokuto said Akaashi put his hand on his boyfriend’s knee attempting to calm him, but it was to no avail.

“It’s Tsukki, he’s always had feelings for you! The two of you belong together!” 

You were completely taken aback by Bokuto’s words, you’d know you’d always thought these things secretly but you had no idea that anybody else could see it. But then you remembered Kei’s face after you asked him why, he looked so confused and betrayed he couldn’t possibly have thought the same things that you and Bokuto had, you were wrong.

“He doesn’t want me, Bo, I ruined it” tears began to sting your eyes again, luckily Akaashi interrupted just in time. 

“Why don’t we take you home yeah?” you nodded and the two guys pulled you into a smothering hug. 

“It'll be ok, (y/n). You guys will figure it out” you couldn’t make out which one of the guys this had come from, but dear god you hoped they were right. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'm really having a great time writing this! Kudos and comments are so rewarding if you feel so inclined! I hope you enjoy it! :)


	3. A little red paint never hurt anybody

It had been just shy of two months since that night at Kuroo and Kenma’s wedding and you hadn’t spoken to Kei since. You’d figured at some point, one of you would pluck up the courage to text the other something small just to try and mend the wound that had been torn between you but neither of you did. You threw yourself into your work, staying up until sunrise almost every night painting, drinking and listening to some of Kei’s old CD’s from high school as loudly as you could just to drown out the sounds of your own conscience. After about a week of being off the grid. Bokuto and Akaashi had shown up at your studio, “because they were in the neighbourhood” they claimed, but considering the two lived almost an hour out of the city you doubted that was true. They’d sat with you awhile, asked you how you were doing but you could barely form a single sentence before the lump in your throat rose again and tears formed in your eyes. They left after a few cups of coffee and nothing really put to rest in your mind. A few days later Kuroo and Kenma had let themselves in and were sitting on the couch in your studio when you came back from getting more supplies. You were almost positive that Bokuto and Akaashi had let on that you were not doing as well as they might have hoped and the two had come rushing over after their honeymoon to comfort you. 

“I’m fine Tetsurõ really” you weren’t but by this point, you’d gotten pretty good at lying about it. You continued to work on your current painting, while the two sat behind you trying to engage you about what had happened that night. 

“I presume Bo and Akaashi have already filled you in on my breakdown,” you said holding out a palette knife covered in bright blue paint. 

“They may have mentioned something about you being upset,” Kuroo said looking down at the ground, you looked at Kenma who had his legs over his new husband and was tapping away on his phone. 

“They told us everything,” Kenma said without looking up.

“Ah hah!” you cried, some of the blue from your knife splattering on the already paint-covered floor. Kuroo sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

“Fine they told us, but just cause we know doesn’t mean we’re not worried (y/n).” The dark-haired man looked up at you from the couch, he wasn’t trying to hide the genuine worry in his face. Sitting down on the arm of the couch you turned to Kuroo and began to speak about as honestly as you had since that day in Bokuto and Akaashi’s hotel room. 

“He rejected me and it hurt, but I think the thing that hurts the most is that he hasn’t tried to reach out to me”. It felt good to get off your chest, even if it did feel hard to get out. 

“Well you haven’t reached out to him either” Kenma offered, eyes still on his phone. You sighed and rubbed the paint on your finger onto the pants leg of your overalls. 

“I know, but I just don’t even know where to start. You know Kei, he’s not exactly good with feelings”. 

“Well that makes two of you” Kenma muttered and Kuroo shoved his arm a little “what? She knows it's true”. And you did, you’d always thought that one of the reasons you and Kei had worked so well as friends was because neither of you were very good at expressing how you felt. So you showed it in your own ways, through pointed jabs and teasing, it had always worked for you. That was until you decided to kiss him at the wedding and destroy what you’d built up over the last seven years.  _ Fuck you were an idiot.  _ When Kuroo and Kenma left that night you’d finally started to feel a little lighter about the whole thing.

“Text us if you need anything okay? Between both of our sleep schedules, we’re basically awake 24/7”. With a tight hug from Kuroo and a small nod and wave to Kenma, the two left you alone to think about what they’d said. 

You’d known they were right of course, that nothing was going to get solved if neither of you would just take the leap to reach out to each other but even still you found yourself finding every excuse not to over the next few weeks. As it came up to almost the two month anniversary to that awful night, you heard a knock at the door of your studio one day. You figured it could only be a handful of people since not many of your friends actually knew the address of the studio but the faces you were greeted with were much different. Standing in the doorway were two tall men, one with the most beautiful silver and the other’s inky black. It had been years since you’d seen their faces. 

“Daichi! Suga!” you brought the two guys into a warm hug and they both reciprocated. “What the hell are you doing here?” You hadn’t known the two awfully well during your time at Nekoma, but once you and Kei went to college they would often ask you to babysit since you were so close by, Kei was never invited of course. You invited the two in and made them tea and sat across from them on a stool. 

“So how are the kids?” you asked, still a little confused as to why they were there. 

“Keishin is good, he’s loving his new school and he’s on the football team,” Suga said and you laughed.

“Football? Yikes, Daichi that must have hurt a little” Daichi laughed and shook his head.

“It stung at first but he’s actually really great” you smiled “and Yui? How are her piano lessons going”. The two smiled at the amount you remembered about their kids, you’d always enjoyed babysitting the two when they were younger. After a few more pleasantries, Daichi asking about your work and Suga asking after your mother (who he’d only met once but was nice enough to have remembered her name) the three of you began to grow silent as you ran out of things to talk about. You sighed,

“Guys, it’s not that I don’t appreciate you being here but” you paused and bit your lip “is there any chance you’re here because Tetsurõ sent you?” Daichi began to laugh nervously, before Suga put his hand on his husband’s knee.

“He called us last week, he said you haven’t done anything for the past two months but paint. He’s worried about you” Suga’s eyes were soft as he spoke. 

“It is my job to paint you know, I’m an artist” but Suga just cocked his head and gave a knowing look. 

“(y/n) look,” he said, setting down his tea “Dai and I have known Tsukishima a long time, even longer than you have in fact”. You let him continue. 

“And we all know that he has trouble expressing his feelings but just because he freaked out that night doesn’t mean that he still doesn’t like you”. 

“But he rejecte-”

“I know he rejected you” Suga began again.  _ Wow, Kuroo really had told them everything _ “but when Tsukishima gets scared he runs away, he shuts his feelings out and pretends that they’re not there. Now he might think that that is the easiest way to handle it but it’s not. You have to talk”. You looked into Suga’s bright caring eyes and gave a small but sure nod and he smiled. 

“Did you paint this?” Daichi interjected after a few moments of silence. You hadn’t noticed but he had been on his feet wandering around your studio for the past few minutes looking aimlessly at your paintings. The one in question was a pretty large canvas, you’d started painting well over six months ago. It was pushed in the corner of the room, behind an old easel, and was covered with a sheet which Daichi was now holding in his hands. You nodded.

“I uh, I had to put it away. After everything happened, I couldn’t look at it.” Daichi nodded and then returned his gaze to the painting. Walked over to join him.

“You should finish it,” he said plainly and you nodded in response. Shortly after that, the two left without a word, leaving you to stare intently at the half-done painting of you and Kei. 

~

It was about a week after Daichi and Suga had dropped in to see you when you were in the convenience store around the corner from your studio. You were picking up various things, mainly alcoholic things but it was one of the first times in a while that you’d been out besides going to the craft store. You wandered aimlessly through the tiny aisles, the fluorescent lamps burning your eyes slightly. You were just turning down the last aisle in the store when you saw him. He was standing there, basket perched in the crook of his arm looking at a shelf full of drinks. He instinctively looked when he heard your footsteps and paused when he realized who you were. You stood for a moment, both staring at each other neither of you knowing what to do.  _ God, he looks good _ you thought. He was only wearing a simple pair of jeans with a black hoodie, but he looked so effortlessly good, he’d always had a knack for that. After a brief moment of staring you took a deep breath and began to walk forward, Suga’s voice ringing in your head. He’d been right, he couldn’t run away from this, neither of you could. You stopped right in front of him and tried to smile warmly, but you were unsure if that’s how it came off.

“Hey,” your voice was a little dry since it was the first time you’d even spoken to anyone that day.

“Hi” he offered back and your muscles seemed to relax a little. Your gaze averted down to your shoes as you began to talk again.

“I’m sorry I haven’t called or anything, I’ve been working a lot”

“Me too” he said plainly and you nodded. There was a pause, neither of you really knew where to go from here, particularly in such a public setting.

“Hey can I show you something?” you asked before you even realized what you were doing and suddenly you began to panic. He looked down at you through his glasses, the way he used to do to the annoying first years in high school once you were both in your last year. You felt tiny. He didn’t answer, but you figured this was enough to keep going.

“It’s at my studio, it won’t take long. It’s right around the corner.” You felt dumb for that one, Kei had known where your studio was, hell he’s the one who’d helped you move your work there. He nodded slightly and before you knew it you were both paying for your groceries and heading out into the mild city air. 

You walked next to each other, silent the whole way. Neither of you even stopped to look at each other until you got to the front of the building where you had to rummage around for your key in your bag. You unlocked the door and led Kei up the stairs, you’d basically been living here since the night at the wedding but right now it felt about as intimidating as when you’d walked into Nekoma on your first day of school. When you finally reached your studio, you opened the door slowly and flipped the light on. The place was a mess, you were messy, Kei had always known this about you but right now it felt about as embarrassing as it possibly could have because it reflected your personal state too. You set down your bag on the table near the door and Kei followed suit silently, you were still too afraid to meet his gaze. Instead, you led him over to the large canvas that Daichi had been staring at the other day. Now dragged into the middle of the room, the painting had been completed. 

You were quiet for as long as possible, letting the blonde man next to you drink in the piece in front of him. But after a while of him not speaking you started to get worried.  _ What if he can’t tell what it is? _ Your work always had been a little abstract, maybe Kei was confused because he thought you’d dragged him here just to look at a painting of birds or something. You decided to clarify.

“It’s us,” you said, arms folded across your chest. You saw him nod in your peripheral.

“Oh no yeah, I got that” you waited for him to elaborate, but it never came. You’d thought this would be a good idea. You’d thought that showing him this painting would make him see how much you’ve missed him over the past two months, but instead, he just stood there silently, his face this as blank as the day you’d kissed him. 

“Look Kei,” you began, rubbing your eyes, “I don’t know what happened that night but I just want you to know that I’m here, as a friend or as whatev-”

“I’m dating someone” the words hung in the room like the aftershock of a bomb, your breath caught in your throat and suddenly felt like you were drowning.  _ That’s why he couldn’t.  _

“Oh” you managed to choke out quietly. You brought your hand to your face, you hadn’t even noticed the tears that were now streaming down it. You stood there for a minute, letting him watch you cry before asking 

“Does she make you happy?” You watched him close his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose.

“(y/n), don’t do this” 

“Do what?” you asked, “I was just ask-”

“No, you’re trying to make things okay and they’re not (y/n)” he was firm this time, talking to you like you were a child and the blood in your veins began to boil. 

“You always try to fix everything, but you can’t fix this (y/n). You just can’t!” he was louder than you’d ever heard him. In the entire time that you knew Kei, you’d never heard him really yell, but now he was yelling. You thought about apologizing, doing anything you could to reason with him but somehow nothing felt like enough. 

“I don't know,” he began again, voice back to his usual register, “maybe it’s better if things just don't get fixed sometimes.” He spat the words out as if they didn’t mean anything to him, but they hit you full-on like a train and you felt your legs begin to shake.

“Are you saying you don’t want to be friends anymore?” you asked, disbelief shaking your voice. You took his silence as your answer. 

“Fine, whatever you want,” you said and heard him scoff as you turned your back to him. 

“Don’t act like this is all my doing (y/n), things were fine before…” he trailed off. 

“No go ahead, before what Kei?!” you could hear yourself getting louder and you didn’t care.

“Before I kissed you? Why is that so awful? Was I really that stupid all the years? Did I really misread everything that badly?” You were yelling now, fists clenched and eyes streaming with tears. “At least I did something Kei, you know this is right I know you do but you’re running away just like you always do.” He laughed bitterly at this.

“Coming from the person who dated a guy she hated for three years just so she didn’t have to be alone” that one, really fucking stung. You shook your head 

“This isn’t the same Kei, I’m not running away from something that has taken us so long to get to”. He was quiet, glaring off to the side before he finally spoke again.

“Well, what am I supposed to do? Hideout in my crappy art studio painting someone who doesn’t even want me?”. With that, he’d done his damage. Your heart was thoroughly ripped in two and you could not have felt smaller in that moment. You turned away again and spoke your final words 

“Get out Tsukishima” you heard the door slam shut behind you. 

You spent that night destroying the painting of you and him. At first, you grabbed a large tin of red paint that sat on the ground and began throwing it aimlessly at the canvas. You watched as the red trickled down over both your faces, covering up all your hard work. After a while, this didn’t feel like enough. You searched the room for something, anything that could do damage, and your eyes finally settled on a knife you’d used to cut canvas earlier that day. It felt powerful in your hand, the metal was cold against your searing paint-covered skin and you raised it above the painting. You paused for a moment as tears began to fall onto the canvas, Kei’s paint-covered face was the last real image that you would have of him and that sent the broken pieces of your heart clattering around in your chest. You shook your head to rid yourself of sadness, no, he’d done his fucking damage and now you got to do yours. You sliced straight through the painting. 

You awoke that night at about three in the morning, you’d been tossing and turning on the couch in your studio and one particularly bad dream in which Kei had pushed you off the side of a building left you jolting awake. You were sweaty, paint-covered and hair a tangled mess, you rolled onto your side and looked into the darkness of your studio just able to make out the faint shape of the torn-up canvas. You lay there for a moment, taking shallow breaths and thinking you ran through the fight over and over again in your head and every time you came back to the last words you’d both said to each other. They made your stomach churn, in all the years of your and Kei’s relationship, filled with jabs and low blows, he had never said anything so hurtful. In all the time you’d known him, the one thing that he had never done was insult your art. In fact, he was one of the only people in your life who had been truly supportive of it, in his own kind of way. Even when you were deciding on colleges and your parents pressed you to choose something more “financially stable” Kei was the only one to tell you that they were idiots and that you should do whatever you wanted. But things were different now, years later and you were lying on a couch in a studio that felt completely useless, and the only person who had ever supported your passion had called it crappy. The pieces of your heart began to rattle again. 

At some point, after that, you’d decided you couldn’t be in that room anymore and that you had to get out. You’d grabbed your bag and your keys from where you’d dropped them a few hours ago and headed out into the night. The air was cool on your skin, just like the knife had been earlier and you began to walk, letting your feet take you while your head kept running the argument over again. It wasn’t until you were standing outside of a tall apartment building downtown that you were even aware of where you were. You sighed and cursed your feet for bringing you here before climbing the steps and pressing the 4th button on a small panel next to the door and waiting for a response. It took a few seconds, but then you heard a small voice come through the speaker.

“Hello?” the familiarity of the voice suddenly made you relax a little before you pressed the button again.

“Hey Kenma, it’s me” that was all you had to say for the door to buzz and click off of its latch. You walked into the small lobby of Kenma and Kuroo’s apartment building and made your way slowly up the stairs. When you arrived at their apartment, Kenma was already standing in the doorway, you smiled faintly and let him lead you into the living room. As he did, you walked past a room that was lit up by Kenma’s gaming set-up and you suddenly felt so stupid.

“Oh god Kenma, were you streaming? I’m sorry I didn’t even think I-” he shook his head to cut you off.

“I’d just got off” you nodded lightly and joined him on the couch. He stared at you for a minute, fixing his gaze right at your face, you suddenly starting feeling self-conscious. 

“What?” you asked him.

“You saw him didn’t you?” God for someone who didn’t like people, Kenma was sure good at studying them. You nodded, you could already feel the tears stinging your eyes.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I came here,” you said, voice cracking.

“You didn’t want to be alone,” Kenma said, completely matter of fact, you nodded again. “You know, there's one thing I’ve learned since being with Kuroo (y/n), there’s no shame in needing people. It took me a while to realise that, but it's true.” You looked at him in complete shock, you’d known Kenma for years, but you’d never heard him speak so honestly before it warmed your heart a little. 

“Thanks, Kenma” you smiled weakly, and then the tears began again. Silently, Kenma moved closer to you on the couch. Just enough that you could grab the sleeve of his hoodie and rest your head on his shoulder lightly. You sat there for a while, crying quietly while he scrolled through his phone. It might have seemed small, but it was just what you’d needed. Just company, no one asking why or what happened it was just enough to know that he was there. 

After some time of you and Kenma just sitting together quietly you heard footsteps come from behind you. You looked up to see Kuroo standing there clad in pyjama pants with little cats on them.

“Hey Tetsurõ, I’m sorry if I woke you I ju-”

“What the fuck is all over you!” he screamed. You’d stood from where you'd sat next to Kenma and looked down at your hands. You were still covered in red paint. 

“Oh no, it’s just paint! Look you raised your hands and walked towards him”. He inspected your hands and rolled his eyes before looking to Kenma who was still sitting on the couch. 

“Did you even ask her why she looked like she’d just committed a mass homicide babe?” Kenma shook his head and Kuroo sighed.

“Okay, Kenma honey. I can’t believe I have to say this but if someone comes into our house looking like they’ve just killed someone what do we do?” 

“Help them hide the body,” Kenma answers, so deadpan that you couldn’t help but laugh. Kuroo shoots you daggers and you stop, looking at him sheepishly. 

“(y/n) go shower, I'll find something for you to wear. I assume you’ll stay here tonight?” you nod and walk past Kuroo to the bathroom. You pause just before entering and turn to him, eyes filled with tears once again.

“Kuroo I-” you start but he just nods and smiles.

“I know (y/n)” you mimic his small smile before stepping into the bathroom to shower. 

The first thing that hits you when you look in the mirror is how disheveled you looked.  _ Is this how I looked when he saw me?  _ Just thought of him seeing you this broken made you feel even more nauseous that you’d already been feeling. Your hair was sticking up randomly out of the bun you had it in and the rest of your hair sat limply on the top of your head. You under eyes were dark with lack of sleep and flecks of red paint dotted your face like some kind of disease. You looked like shit. Sitting on the ground of Kuroo and Kenma’s bathroom you pulled your phone from your pocket. There was a small part of you that was praying that there was some kind of attempt from Kei to contact you, but there was nothing. 

  
You sat there for a moment mind racing thinking back to all the things you’d said to each other, and before you knew it the phone was trilling in loudly against the bathroom walls.  _ Fuck it _ , you thought. You knew this was a bad idea, but you were so far past broken at this point that you didn’t even care about what you were doing. All you knew was that when you were feeling this shitty, the only person you wanted to talk to was Kei because he knew you best. But Kei’s voice never came, after a few drawn-out rings the line simply went dead and the sound of an automated voicemail could be heard. He’d rejected your call. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This is definitely my personal favourite chapter from this fic! My girlfriend, however, was not very happy with all the angst. I'm really having a great time writing this! Kudos and comments are so rewarding if you feel so inclined! I hope you enjoy it! :)


	4. Change

It took you about a year to fully get back to some kind of normal after everything that had happened. It was slow at first, after that night at Kenma and Kuroo’s they’d given you a ride back to your place but within minutes of being there, you couldn’t stand the sight of it anymore. You’d never realised it before, but Kei was all over that place. His old volleyball sweaters in your closet, photos of the two of you on the fridge and a small plush dinosaur that he’d won you at a carnival in college. Your apartment suddenly felt too big, too empty and after putting all of the things that reminded you of him into boxes, you found yourself not stopping until everything was boxed up. You’d called Kuroo the next day and he’d helped you move everything out, and into your art studio. He seemed concerned at first, the idea of you living in the same place that you worked but the gallery owner and boss didn’t seem to mind as long as you kept it to yourself. 

“Otherwise I’ll have all of you starving artists living up there in some kind of commune” he’d said in an annoyed tone that reminded you of Kei. 

For the first few months, you were basically a hermit. You spent your time painting and working in the gallery and basically nothing else. If you did have to go out, for groceries or something else you did that as late as possible. You didn’t want to run any risk of accidentally running into Kei again like that night in the summer, or worse run into him and his new girlfriend and she fawned all over him. Luckily, the universe had seemingly given up pushing the two of you together and you managed to get time to heal. Around Christmas time was when inspiration first really struck you again. After everything that had happened and Kei’s discouraging words about your art, you’d found it exceedingly difficult to come up with anything original. You kept up with your commission work and a few other landscape paintings that you knew would sell in the gallery but you could never really seemed to paint anything that meant anything to you. This was until one day in the winter when a friend of yours from the gallery had come to raid your studio for supplies and had found the torn-up canvas with the destroyed painting of you and Kei on it. She’d asked if she could have it, to repair and paint over, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to let it go. You couldn’t understand why at first, you’d managed to put everything else that reminded you of him away why not this too? But as the cogs in your brain began to turn, you realised what you had to do with it. 

From then, you found yourself diving into probably the largest project of your life. Several large scale paintings, all some of your best work and all that your boss had deemed “exhibition worthy”. You couldn’t believe it when he’d first said it, you’d always had your work displayed in the gallery, something your boss had been nice enough to do for all the up and coming artists who worked there. However, nobody who worked there had ever even been offered the prospect of an exhibition, those went to more well-known artists the ones who were all the rage on social media or whose work had made it into the best magazines. You didn’t hesitate to agree of course, and before you knew it, almost a year after all the awfulness with Kei you finally felt like you were on a road to a new normal. 

“It’s called Change,” you told Kuroo and Kenma one night at dinner. “You guys will be there right? It starts in two weeks.” Kenma nodded furiously, but Kuroo was off somewhere else. It wasn’t until Kenma nudged his husband in the ribs that he even realised you’d been talking to him. 

“Huh?” he looked at Kenma who gestured to you.

“(y/n) is asking you to attend the biggest event of her career babe, be present” you giggled lightly. 

“Oh sorry (y/n) I guess I was just distracted. We’ll be there, of course, we will, when is it?” 

“Two weeks” you repeated “Tetsurõ, are you okay? You’ve been off all night” he laughed, about to undoubtedly come up with some kind of excuse but Kenma nudged his side again, a little harder this time.

“Ow!”

“Just tell her” Kenma shot back.

“Tell me what?” Kuroo was silent for a minute and then decided his husband was right. 

“Okay, but promise you won’t be mad?” you rolled your eyes and he continued “I saw Tsukki yesterday.”

“Oh” the sound left your mouth before you could stop it, you hadn’t heard that name in a while. 

“I promise (y/n), it’s the first time since everything happened with you guys. I was so mad for what he did to you, but then…”

“Then?” you questioned you hated that you were so intrigued by any of this. 

“Well, Bokuto suggested we meet up, just some of the guys from training camp days. I didn’t even think about it at the time but when Bo said it would be at Tsukki’s place I-”

“You were at his place?” god why were you asking? You could already feel the pit forming in your stomach. Kuroo nodded and looked at you with guilty eyes.

“I met her (y/n)” now you were lost for words. Suddenly it felt as though everything you’d done this past year had been for nothing, you still weren’t over it. 

“She’s not you,” Kuroo chimed back in “he’s not the same with her as he ever was with you, I can see it. He doesn’t look at her like he did with you, he doesn’t joke with her.” Kuroo paused for a minute and looked around as if he was about to tell some kind of shocking secret.

“(y/n) she’s nice to him, like actually nice. She doesn’t challenge him like you did… he’s bored.”

You shut your eyes tightly trying to push down the bubbling hope in your stomach.

“No,” you said squeezing tighter so that you could see patterns behind your eyelids.

“It’s true!” Kuroo began again but you shook your head.

“Tetsurõ please, don’t do this, I can’t. Not again.” 

“Okay, okay,” he said “I’ll drop it” you opened your eyes to see a solemn look on both his and Kenmas faces. Kuroo extended his hand and placed it on yours.

“Are you mad at me?” he asked, eyes doe-esque and wide. 

“No, of course not. He was your friend too. I just, I can’t do that again. I was in so much pain after that night.” The two nodded and with that, the subject was dropped. Kuroo went on to ask more questions about your exhibit, evidently trying to distract you from what had just happened. But it was too late, the door that you’d taken so long to force closed in your mind was open again and you were thinking about him.

~

Two weeks later when your exhibition began you could not have felt more loved. Kuroo and Kenma came the first night, with a huge bouquet of wildflowers and a bottle of champagne. You’d showed them around and felt giddy at the genuine look of pride on their faces. A few nights later Bokuto and Akaashi stopped by, Bokuto was confused by most of your paintings but no less enthusiastic because of it. He even said that he wanted to buy one particular painting because it “looked like the back of Akaashi’s head”. But you told him that you didn’t plan on parting with them any time soon. Your exhibition got more reception than just your friends though, some of the attendees were really big deals in the art world, you’d even ended being interviewed by a local news station. Overall, the exhibition had gone off without a hitch, attendance was consistent and there were no huge disasters. That was until the last night of your show. 

There was only about an hour left until the gallery closed, most people had come and gone for the day. The only people who were left besides yourself were your boss and a few of your coworkers. They’d brought out a bottle of champagne and a few glasses and were toasting in your honour.

“To (y/n)!” your boss said brightly and blush rose in your cheeks as they all cheered. You were half-way through thanking them all for their help when you’d noticed you were no longer alone. You caught a glance of his figure out of the corner your eye first and it wasn’t until you’d turned that your drink caught in your throat and you realized who it was. Standing there, in the middle of the gallery staring up at your paintings was Kei. The pit from two weeks ago began to reappear in your stomach and you began to feel your heart pounding in your ears. It wasn’t until your co-worker saw who you were looking at that you managed to snap out of it.

“Who’s the tall glass of water in the jacket?” he’d asked, sipping his drink. You hadn’t noticed at first, but Kei was wearing a stylish dark blue jacket with a colour coordinated turtleneck underneath, his glasses were new too. Your stomach churned as you scanned his new look, it wasn’t that he looked bad, god no, quite the opposite. It was that he looked incredible, the clothes fit him perfectly but you’d known that they weren’t ones he’d chosen for himself. All things considered, Kei had always had a pretty good sense of style for someone who didn’t care about fashion, but he’d never tried at it, it was just what he wore. This had thought put into it, this was  _ her  _ handy work. 

“Uh, he’s an old friend” you finally replied after what felt like minutes. You held out your glass and he took it from you smiling and turned back to the group. 

Your legs were weak as you walked and it wasn’t because of the heeled boots you were wearing. However, their clack on the hardwood floor had alerted Kei of your presence and now he was staring right at you. 

“Hey,” you said, surprised at how natural your voice managed to sound given the circumstances. He looked back up at your work,

“Hi.” you were both quiet before he spoke again “I saw a flyer for the show, and before I knew it” he trailed off, the pit in your stomach began to bubble with hope again. You both stood in silence for a while staring at your feet and he at your painting before you couldn’t stand it any more. 

“There’s an order yano” you gestured around the room “to all of this.” He met your eyes for the first time that night, god you’d missed his eyes. “Want me to show you?” and in his very Kei way, he answered with silence. 

You led him to the painting closest to the door, it was one of the smaller ones in the collection, but still above your average size of painting. It was an abstract painting of a pair of broken glasses, painted perfectly from memory of one of your first times hanging out with Kei. You stood there for a moment, letting him stare and the work, he cocked his head to the side and a little and then looked at you expectantly. You led him to the next one. 

The second painting was the view out of a window, looking out onto your old college campus in the fall. The painting was filled with oranges and reds, you liked this one a lot, it almost looked like flames. It was the view from Kei’s dorm room window, the same one you’d sat at years ago. 

You led him around a few more paintings, all different scenes from your lives together. One depicted the carnival you’d attended together in your first year of college, another the sunset you’d watched together on the day you’d both graduated. They were all painted from memory, every one of them had sat like postcards in your brain, you’d had to get them out. 

Finally, you led him to the end of the room, where the final two paintings stood side by side. The penultimate painting was the one he’d been staring at when you’d noticed his presence. It was a self-portrait. Your abstract figure sat, hunched over on an ornate spiral staircase. Your face was hidden, but the dress was the exact same colour as the one you wore on the night you’d kissed Kei. 

The final painting was by far the largest in the set, it was one that had become so familiar to you that it had seemed the show was incomplete without it. There, towering above the two of you, was the painting you’d shown Kei on the night you’d fought. The red paint was still there, splattered over the pair of your faces, but the once shredded canvas had been repaired. You’d spent hours in your studio sewing the canvas back together, and the thick black thread that you’d used to do so stuck out against the bright paint. 

You were both silent for a while longer, and when you were sure that he’d had enough to process you spoke again.

“I know this kind of stuff isn’t usually your thing.”

“No, but I think I got it.” There was something so familiar about the way he’d said it, that honesty mixed with smug that you hadn’t heard in so long. You’d really missed it. 

“Kei I-” you began, but you were cut off by your boss's hand on your shoulder.

“I’m sorry to interrupt (y/n) but we should really close up.”  _ Fuck. _

“I guess I should go,” he said, but you couldn’t reply. You wanted so badly to protest but you just couldn’t get the words out. He turned to you once more before leaving.

“Goodbye (y/n)” and with that, he disappeared out into the night. 

~

When Kei got back to his apartment late that night his head was reeling. He couldn’t believe what he’d done. He’d been standing in the grocery store what felt like forever ago now and had seen the flyer for your show in the window. Without even thinking, he’d dropped his groceries and had walked the few short blocks over to your gallery. He wasn’t shocked to see you there, he’d kind of expected it really but what he didn’t expect was how fucking good you’d look. The last time he’d seen you you’d looked so... broken. Your hair had been a mess and you’d looked completely exhausted, he had still found you endlessly attractive but it was more the kind in which all he wanted to do was take care of you but he’d done the exact opposite of that. But tonight you looked so good that he could barely keep himself breathing. The way your tight black clothes had hugged you so perfectly and the small lift that your shoes had given you just enough height to bring you to eye level with him, you were literally breathtaking. And the way you’d spoken with such ease when you’d seen him as if nothing he had done had ever affected you, as if you were completely over everything he’d done to you just over a year ago. 

Your work had been incredible too, it was all so beautiful he could see your thought process in every single brush stroke on the canvas. It made his heart swell in a way art never had. He was even more impressed in the way you’d managed to remember so many aspects of your relationship. The exact shade of black metal of his glasses from all those years ago and that small crack in the window of his dorm room from college. You’d remembered it all so well and it was right there on the canvas. He’d felt as though he was being transported back to all the best moments of his life, all the moments with you. And when you finally led him over to the final painting in your exhibit, his heart had shattered all over again. It was the painting you’d shown him that night, even with all the red paint and damage he could have recognised it anywhere. He thought back to the first time he’d seen it, it was so beautiful, so full of colour and true emotion but he couldn’t enjoy it. He’d felt guilty, guilty for the way he’d treated you that night at the wedding, guilty for finding someone else when he’d been trying all the time to tell you how he really felt. But rather than apologize rather than try to fix things he’d ran, your words that night had hurt him so badly but it wasn’t because they were inaccurate. You’d been right, he’d known that even then, he was running from you, from something he’d wanted for so long but fear had set in and got the better of him. Fear of hurting you, the fear of things not working and ruining seven years of friendship. So instead he decided to do exactly what he’d feared doing in the first place.  _ God, he was a fucking idiot. _

It wasn’t until the light in the hallway flipped on that Kei noticed how long he’d been standing in the darkness of his apartment.

“Tsukki?” he looked towards the source. It was his girlfriend standing there, arms crossed and a little blurry-eyed, he’d obviously woken her. 

“Where did you go? You’ve been out for hours” she asked, she was in her pyjamas. They were matching, pink and silky. You had never worn matching pyjamas, you’d usually just worn whatever old Karasuno sweatshirt you’d stolen from him and shorts. His chest tightened at the memory.

“ _ Kei? _ ” she asked again, a little more annoyed this time. 

“Somethingcameupatwork” he muttered quickly and tried to push past her into the bedroom but she put a hand on his arm to stop him. 

“Work? You’ve used that excuse three times this  _ week _ Tsukki!” he didn’t answer her, just stood there staring into her eyes. Your eyes were so bright compared to hers, she always seemed to look annoyed even when she was completely content, Kei missed your eyes. 

“You’re seriously not going to tell me where you’ve been?” she asked but he just shrugged. He knew he should be better to her, she was a very nice girl but after seeing you tonight it didn’t feel worth it to pretend anymore. 

“Fine.” she spat. “I’m done Tsukki,  _ done.”  _ He didn’t try to protest, he just leant against the wall in the hallway until she had changed out of her pyjamas back into whatever clothes she’d arrived in. Then once she’d gathered her things, he watched her walk out the door without another word. He knew what he’d done was shitty, but he couldn’t really care about that right now. He would apologise tomorrow. 

He sat down on the couch and pulled out his phone, he was half-praying that you might have texted him, but then again who knew if you even still had his number in your phone? He pulled up Instagram and typed in your username, he wasn’t much for social media so he hadn’t really checked your profile since the two of you stopped talking. There was only one post he recognised to be something he hadn’t seen, he guessed you might have secluded yourself from social media in order to produce the kind of work he’d seen tonight. There was no way you’d had any distractions. He clicked on the new post, it was a video of you being interviewed by a local news channel and it was captioned “Hey look! I was the news!” with a bunch of those stupid emoticons you loved. He turned up the sound on his phone and listened to you speak.

“Someone once asked me what I did, I was so young at the time, but even then I’d known what to say.” you paused for a minute and he noticed your eyes wander down to your feet just like they had since you were young. “I’d told them I was an artist, that I liked to make things. And that’s what I do, any time that my soul is at odds with reality I take that and make something from it. And that's what this project is, it’s the process of grieving… and moving on.” Kei swore he could have seen the smallest amount of tears raise in your eyes, but the camera wasn’t close enough to see. He listened to the video a few more times, you were talking about him. He was the one who has asked you that all those years ago in the kitchen of that party. He couldn’t believe you still thought about that day when the two of you had first met. Of course, he did too from time to time, but he’d never thought that that conversation had ever had any kind of effect on you. He was so glad that he was wrong. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'm really having a great time writing this! Kudos and comments are so rewarding if you feel so inclined! I hope you enjoy it! :)


	5. Of all the house warming parties in all the world

It was around 8 pm when Kuroo and Kenma had swung by your studio a few weeks after that night at your exhibit. You were standing in front of the mirror, studying the tight black dress that you were wearing for the first time in a long while. Kuroo whistled as he entered.

“Damn (y/n)!” you turned to smile at the two warmly. 

“Is it okay? I haven’t worn it in a while.” Your hands grazed your sides trying to find some confidence in yourself. 

“It’s great!” he replied, but you were still skeptical “Seriously!” he looked at you side on and spoke behind his hand in a fake whisper. “Really, if I wasn’t married and you weren’t like a sister to me” he winked. 

“You’re gross,” Kenma told him, nose scrunched in disgust.

“I concur” you seconded. He rolled his eyes and fell onto your bed in the middle of your studio. 

“Are you ready? I told Bo and Kaashi we’d be there by 7 so if we leave now we’ll be earlier than I planned.” You chuckled.

“Sure just let me grab my bag.” Bokuto and Akaashi had just bought a beautiful two-story home right in the heart of the city and to celebrate they were holding a huge house warming party for everyone they knew. 

“Okay! I’m good, let's go!” you said, checking your appearance in the mirror one last time, you made for the door but Kuroo put a hand on your shoulder and stopped you. 

“(y/n) wait,” he said, sounding concerned. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he glanced at Kenma who put his hands up in a “don’t look at me!” kind of way. 

“It’s just” he sighed “everyone is gonna be there tonight. Yano  _ everyone.”  _ You rolled your eyes.

“I’ll be fine Kuroo,” you said fiddling with your small side bag. “Kei is just as close with Bo and Akaashi as I am, closer even.” 

“I know that,” he said nodding a little “it’s just the first time you’ve seen him in like a year. That’s gotta be a lot right?” You averted your eyes from Kuroo’s gaze.

“Right (y/n)?” his voice was accusatory, you were silent. “Oh my god.”

“I’m sorry!”

“Oh my  _ god”  _ Kuroo’s hands tangled in his dark hair and his eyes were wide, Kema chuckled.

“I knew it,” he said, both you and Kuroo shot him a disbelieving glance and he rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, the  _ second _ she said she was putting up fliers about her exhibition around the neighbourhood it was obvious that he’d show up. I bet she even did it on purpose.” Kenma shot you a positively evil glance, a blush crept up your cheeks. 

“ _ (y/n) _ ” Kuroo said again, a little exasperated this time. 

“ _ I’m sorry”  _ you repeated in a whine. “I should have told you that he came, but I promise it wasn’t my idea  _ at all _ ” you shot Kenma a glance and he stuck out his tongue. 

“Well, what happened? What did he say?” Kuroo had seemingly gotten over the shock fairly quickly and was now just desperate for details. You crossed your arms across your chest.

“Er, not much. He came, he looked at my work, and then” you trailed off.

“And  _ then? _ ”

“A-and then he left! He said goodbye and left, that was it!” 

“And you haven’t spoken since?” you shook your head. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, you looked down at your shoes. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” you said.

“It’s okay, it's your business. Just be careful yeah? We don’t want to see you hurt like that again” you nodded, and with that, the three of you left for the party. 

The second you walked through the door of Bokuto and Akaashi new place they lept on the three of you. 

“You said you’d be here over an hour ago Kuroo!” Bokuto cried and Akaashi put his hand on his shoulder to console him. The house was filled with people, a lot of them you recognised as ex-high school volleyball players from the general area in which you’d all grown up but there were a few that were unknown to you, likely friends from the two’s work lives you presumed. You turned to Akaashi as you Kuroo and Bokuto continued to argue about your tardiness. 

“Thanks, for inviting me!” you smiled and Akaashi reciprocated.

“Of course! It wouldn’t have been the same without you!” you’re both silent for a moment before 

Akaashi decides to address the elephant in the room.

“He’s here by the way,” he says taking a sip of his drink “in the kitchen.” You take a deep breath and try to act indifferent but Akaashi just rolls his eyes. “Come on, I’ll take you to get a drink.” You tried to protest but before you could he grabbed your wrist and was leading you through the crowds of people to the large open-plan kitchen at the back of the house. Akaashi finally let go of your hand once you reached the countertop filled with booze and picked up a bottle whiskey, shaking it playfully in front of your face.

“Something strong?” he asked in a sly tone. You nodded vigorously, you had to do something to settle the butterflies bubbling up in your stomach. As Akaashi grabbed a large red cup from the stack and began pouring a healthy amount of whiskey over ice, you looked around the room. The kitchen was beautiful, the whole house was really. It was old, at least a hundred years, but they’d kept all the original features. The kitchen walls were painted a beautiful deep navy, your eyes trailed along them assessing all the people who lined them. Eventually, your eyes settled on a figure in the back corner of the room, just close enough to the door to the back yard to look like he was thinking about leaving but enough to still be able to see everything that was happening in the room. It was Kei. Your breath left you instantly but when you felt something cold pressed into your hand you snapped back to reality. You looked back to Akaashi and smiled, feigning ignorance to your surroundings but Akaashi smiled.

“You knew he was going to be here didn’t you? We told Kuroo to warn you.” Akaashi’s face was far too smug for your liking and it prickled your skin with annoyance. Why was everyone acting like this? Why was this such a big deal for everyone? So what if you and Kei were at the same party? You’d been friends for years of course you’d still have mutual friends. You nodded in response.

“It’s cool!” you said taking a large swig of your drink, the burn helped kill off some of the butterflies you were harbouring. Akaashi rolled his eyes. 

“ _ God  _ (y/n) you are  _ so  _ bad at pretending to be okay with this.” you didn’t answer him, just forced a face of confusion that apparently wasn’t very convincing either. Akaashi sighed and set his drink on the table. 

“Okay listen, I didn’t want to do this and Bokuto told me not to but.” He paused.

“What Kaashi?” he closed his eyes before he answered.

“Look before me and Bo got together. I spent years,  _ years  _ (y/n) pining after him. I would spend every waking moment thinking about if he liked me and why he hadn’t done anything about it. Eventually, I realised, there was no way I’d know if I didn’t try. I had to be brave.” You thought about Akaashi’s words, why was he pushing this so much? Why was everyone still pushing this?

“Akaashi I tried, I told him I liked him!  _ I kiss-” _

“Kissed him, I know.” Akaashi interrupted, picking up his cup again “But that was then, a year ago, when he wasn’t single.” You’d almost missed his last words when he’d brought his cup to his mouth as he said them, but the second you registered them, your eyes shot up to meet Akaashi. He laughed into his cup and took another sip. You were both silent for a moment, listening to the chatter of the people around you, Akaashi’s words swirled around in your head making you dizzy.  _ When he wasn’t single _ that meant that now he was. You took another healthy chug of your drink. When you lowered your cup from your face, you were met with an empty space and Akaashi blending back into the crowd. 

You took a few minutes to regulate your breathing, finish your drink, and make another, even larger, one. When you turned to face him, your eyes instantly met. If you’d thought about it more you probably would have realised he’d been staring at you, but you were too busy trying to keep your legs moving. Eventually, you managed to take a few heeled steps in his direction. You tried to smile as you approached him, but you weren’t sure if it had actually emerged. You perched yourself next to him against the wall and took a sip of your drink. You were the first to speak. 

“Well, this is hauntingly familiar.” he didn’t answer, just eyed you sideways with a cocked brow. “Yano,” you explained, “you and me, standing awkwardly in a kitchen while everyone else parties. It reminds me of the first time we met.” You weren’t sure, but you could have sworn you’d heard the smallest amount of breath escape from his nostrils, had you amused him? Your muscles relaxed as you took a few more sips of your drink, the alcohol might have been making your head swirl but it was definitely helping with the anxiousness deep in your bones. After a while longer of silence, the liquid courage was starting to take its effect.

“Do you remember that night?” you asked, “It feels so far away now.” When he didn’t answer you carried on, you knew you were rambling but you didn’t seem to care.

“You had absolutely no interest in talking to me.”

“That’s how it is any time I talk to you.” It had taken you aback when he spoke at first, it wasn’t until you looked over to see his trademark fake annoyance that you really registered it was him. 

“ _ Haha”  _ you mocked. God, you’d missed him making fun of you. “But still, you were so nice to me, you kept me company the entire night.” You were staring straight ahead now, watching everyone around you dance and laugh together. 

“I didn’t have much choice,” he said “Kuroo and Bokuto basically forced me to look after you, so innocent” you could hear the smirk in his voice, it sent shivers down your spine. 

“But you still did it!” you cried, you were facing him now, waving a tipsy finger in his face laughing a little. “Youuu were nice to meee” you said in a sing-song voice. He clicked his tongue in annoyance,  _ fuck his mouth looked good.  _ You giggled again, and then the silence set back in, you’d really missed being around him. You’d tried to ignore that, all the time apart you were focused on how he’d hurt you but you hadn’t really thought about how much you missed talking with him. He’d been your best friend after all. You sighed and looked down at the liquid in your cup and swirled it around.

“Look Kei,” you saw his head whip around to look at you, you hadn’t called him that in a while “I… I don't know how to fix what happened back then. But d-dyou you think, we could at least just agree not to hate each other?” You looked up expectantly, he eyed you for a minute and your stomach churned at the thought of his reply. And then he rolled his eyes

“I never  _ hated you, dumbass” _ his voice was so condescending, so shitty, it was great. A smile rose on your face.

“Did you hate me?” he asked, it was quiet and mumbled but you’d heard it none the less, the smile disappeared quickly. 

“No. No no no Kei no.” you were drunk. You were drunk and you were rambling and you were sharing way too much right now but you didn’t care, Kei thought you hated him and you couldn’t let that happen. “I never ever hated you. I was mad, and I was hurt and  _ frustrated.  _ But I never hated you Kei, I never could.” The words hung in the air between you for what felt like forever, when suddenly Bokuto was at your side. You hadn’t noticed, but in the time you’d been speaking to Kei it had gotten pretty late, the party hadn’t died down but you were working in the morning. 

“(y/n)!” Bokuto said “I’m glad I found you! Kuroo and Kenma had to leave.”

“What? But I was going home with them.”

“I know,” he sounded out of breath, he’d obviously been looking for you for a while. “They got a call from their maid, the old lady who lives above them fell asleep in the tub with the tap on. The whole ceiling came down on Kenma’s gaming set-up.” You sucked air in through your teeth.

“Yikes”, Bokuto nodded in agreement. “Okay well, I guess I’ll walk home alone. It’s not that far from here anyway.”

“No way!” he said, a little outraged you’d even suggested it. “It’s already late and you’re a girl alone, and people in this city can be pervy as fuck! I’ll get Kaashi to call you a cab!”

“No Bo you don’t-” 

“It’s fine I’ll take her,” an annoyed voice said, you felt Kei step to your side “it’s on my way anyway.” Bokuto didn’t speak another word, he just looked at you and when he was sure that it was okay he nodded and left. You turned to face Kei.

“You didn’t have to do that, I’m fine going home alone really” but he rolled his eyes dramatically.

“Ugh stop whining, there is no way I’m letting you get murdered by some creepy pervert.” “Kuroo would never let me forget it” he added, as justification for his chivalry. You didn’t answer, just stared up at him unsure how to answer, why was he taking care of you? He huffed, shoved his hands in his pockets, and began to walk off.

“Come on, because I’m not slowing down” he called behind him and you began to follow. 

You’d waved to Bokuto and Akaashi as you made your way out the door. You could have sworn that Bokuto had wiggled his eyebrows at you, but they were behind a thick crowd, and thinking about what he was suggesting made you panic so you pushed it out of your mind. The air was warmer than you’d expected, only the slightest breeze that blew your stray hairs into your face. You walked side by side down the street with Kei silently at first, you’d thought the fresh would have helped you sober up a little. But instead, it just made you even more giddy. After a few minutes of silence, you decided to break it. 

“You really don’t think I could handle myself against a pervert murderer?” you asked Kei and you approached the corner of the pavement. You’d tried to step out onto the road but he caught your arm just in time and pulled you back before the oncoming traffic could touch you. 

“Well since you can’t even stop yourself from being hit by a car I fucking doubt it” there was real annoyance in his voice this time, you would have been worried if it weren’t for his hand lingering on your shoulder. You repeated his sentence in a mocking tone as he pushed you across the crosswalk. 

“You’re a child,” he said dryly and you stuck out your tongue. “Oh yeah, very mature.” You both went quiet again, just walking along the streets letting him guide you through the crowds of people with his hand on your shoulder. It wasn’t until you got to the corner of two streets where you bumped into each other trying to go opposite ways.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I live this way” you said pointing down the street to your right. He rolled his eyes.

“Come on you can’t be  _ that  _ drunk (y/n).” It was the first time he’d said your name all night, you’d missed your name in his mouth.  _ God that mouth. _

“ _ No.  _ I moved into my studio a year ago, I live this way now.” You were both silent. From the first glance at your conversations tonight, it had seemed like nothing had changed between you. But right now, you could both sense that the time apart had changed you both in ways you didn’t even know. 

“You’re living in your studio?” he asked, he didn’t necessarily sound hurt but he definitely wasn’t thrilled either. 

“It’s cozy” you lied. It wasn’t cozy, your apartment had been cozy but your apartment was haunted with him, so you’d had to leave. He was quiet for a minute and then pushed you forward down the street to the right. 

When you finally arrived at your studio, your feet were in fucking agony. You hadn’t noticed it at the party, but your shoes had been digging in in all the worst places. The second that you got upstairs you pulled them off your feet and groaned. 

“You shouldn’t wear such stupid shoes, they’re not practical” Kei spoke from behind you and then you heard the door close. You hadn’t invited him up, but you hadn’t protested when he followed you either. You looked at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“What? I had to see if you were serious” he looked around the room and scoffed “Wow you’re really living in your studio.” You rolled your eyes.

“So what? Why do you care?” you folded your arms over your chest, you had suddenly become aware of how much shorter you were than Kei without your shoes on. Another thing you’d forgotten about. He chuckled darkly.

“Oh, believe me, I don’t. I’m just astonished that I haven’t read about your death in the paper yet.”

“This neighbourhood is perfectly safe!” you cried, walking forward to look up at him. 

“In the daylight maybe!” he said, meeting your gaze.

“Well, we can’t all have fancy accountant jobs!”

“I’m an  _ investment banker” _

“Different job same dumb suit”

“Not everyone can wear overalls every day of their lives!”

“I’m not wearing overalls right now,  _ am I?”  _ you held out your arms to show your dress. Kei scanned your body slowly and smirked.

“No… you certainly aren’t.”  _ Fuck.  _ Did he mean to say it like that?  _ Fuck.  _ Your head was reeling.  _ Fuck.  _ He was getting closer to you.  _ Fuck.  _ He was leaning down.  _ Fuck.  _ His hand grazed your hip.  _ Fuck.  _ You were closing the gap.

“ _ Fuck.”  _ you whispered. With that, your eyes fluttered closed and your lips met his. You were still for a minute, waiting for him to pull back, just like last time. But when he didn’t, you pushed your whole self against him and deepened the kiss. It wasn’t for a few seconds that you really realised that he was kissing you back. When he brought his hands down to your waist and gripped it firmly. He moved his lips against yours pulling you in closer. Your hands found their way into his hair, it was softer than you’d remembered. As you did, he ran his tongue across your bottom lip and you shivered, and let his tongue enter your mouth. Usually, you would have been more alert when kissing someone. But right now with Kei, all you could do was move your tongue around his lightly and let him kiss you fully over and over again. 

After a few silent passion-filled minutes you managed to compose yourself enough to pull your mouth away from his and rest your forehead against his. Both of your breathing was hushed and heavy and your eyes danced across his golden ones. 

“K-Kei I-”

“I’m sorry,” he interrupted, gripping your hand in his and pulling you into him. “I’m so sorry about everything (y/n). Y-you were right I was scared and I was an idiot and I ran away. But I had tried for so long to get you to notice me, and when you finally did I had given up all hope. And when you kissed me I just, I panicked. I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t want to cheat but I didn’t want to stop you either. A-and then a few weeks ago after I saw you at your exhibit I knew, I knew I couldn’t keep pretending to care about Mai when I hadn’t stopped thinking about you all year. Because I hadn’t, not for a second (y/n).” His chest heaved as he spoke, he sounded so flustered. You’d never seen him like this before, his eyes were soft and worried, he looked so vulnerable. 

“Her name was Mai?” you asked.

“W-what?” his brow furrowed, of all the things you could have asked him you wanted to know this?

“Mai is a pretty name” you smiled and thought for a moment “d-did you… did you b-break up wi-”

“Yes.” he couldn’t even wait for you to finish your sentence. He needed you to know. You nodded lightly and then gazed deep into his eyes.

“Okay.” And suddenly you were kissing again, your hand back in his hair, his hands back on your waist and you wouldn’t slow down. You couldn’t slow down. You had missed out on so much, so much time together, so much time being able to touch him and smell him. You wanted to make up for the last year all in one night, but you couldn’t. Just as he had begun to slip his hand up the back of your shirt, the skin on skin contact making you shiver in his arms, you managed to put your mouth away from him. 

“Kei” you huffed, but this didn’t discourage him. He’d let you move your mouth away but he just migrated down to your jawline, placing soft kisses all the way down to your neck. 

“ _ Kei,”  _ you said a little more forcefully this time while pulling your hands out of his hair and placing them on his chest so you could hold him off. He had snapped back to reality and was now looking at you panicked.

“Fuck. Shit. Sorry. I was going too fast, I pressured you. I didn’t even ask I-” 

“Nononono!” You cut off his worrying. “It’s great, you’re great it’s just…” you trailed off and he squeezed your arms a little. 

“What is it?”

“I want this, of course, I do but” you paused and bit your lip but he nodded for you to continue. “It’s been a  _ year  _ Kei. So much had happened for both of us. Before this, we knew everything about each other but now…”

“We need to get to know each other again.” he finished your sentence and you nodded shyly. 

Bending down to your eye level, he brushed his nose against yours and then kissed you, much softer this time. He took your hand in his and led you over to the bed in the centre of the room. 

“Come on,” he smiled “let’s order food.” You looked up at him in complete awe, not just because you’d never seen him this soft before, but because two seconds ago you were giving him everything he wanted and now he’d just let it go in exchange for ramen and blankets. He placed a kiss on your forehead and pulled out his phone. You lent your head on his shoulder and he pulled you in close to him. 

“Kei?” you said in a small voice. He hummed in response, keeping his eyes fixed on the food menu, he was ordering your usual. 

“Thank you.” you nuzzled yourself closer to him and he sighed.

“Don’t thank me you’re paying” he mumbled into your hair and you slapped his arm lightly. 

You spent the time, waiting for the food just talking. Laying on your bed in all manner of positions, sometimes he was holding you, sometimes you were holding him (Oh yeah, he liked to be the little spoon. You made a mental note to tease him about that tomorrow) but either way, you never left each other's side. When the food finally arrived you groaned as he pulled himself away from you, 

“You’re such a baby” he cried as he walked to the door “I’ll only be a minute.” As you waited in bed for him, you suddenly realised you were still in your party dress. You’d gotten up to change when you got an idea. You rushed over to the closet in the corner of your room and pulled out a box that had been hidden under a pile of old clothes. You yanked the tape off it and began rummaging through it. When Kei returned, he was greeted by the sight of you bent over in your closet searching, at just the right angle that your dress was hugging your ass perfectly. He felt a twinge in the pit of his stomach.

“I thought we weren’t going there tonight” he called over to you in a smug tone. You popped your head up from the box you’d been in.

“Huh?” you asked and then it registered and you threw a shoe at him.“You’re gross!”

“And  _ you  _ have a nice ass,” he said, evading another shoe. You buried your face in the box to hide your scarlet cheeks. Kei set about laying out the food on the coffee table next to your bed while you continued to rummage.

“Ah hah!” you cried after a few minutes holding up a large black and orange sweatshirt that had the number 11 on the back. He rolled his eyes at your pleased face. But then watched intently and pulled your dress over your head and threw it to the ground. Your body was perfect, of course, you were only in a bra and panties which was essentially the same as a bathing suit. Something he’d seen you in countless times, but it made him yearn to see what was underneath. But much to his dismay you pulled the sweater back over your beautiful body, covering it from him, how rude. 

“Okay!” you said. Plopping down next to him on the bed. “I’m ready to eat!” Before you could say another word he pulled your face up to his with both hands and kissed you passionately. There was no suggestiveness behind it, just a pure desire to press your lips to his and take in every part of it, the way your lips felt, the small squeak you made when he did it, and most of all the small smile that he could feel you break into. When he pulled away, you were even redder than when he complimented your ass, you swatted his arm a little before he pulled you into his lap where you stayed for the rest of the night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Finally, something that isn't angst! I really love writing for both Bokuaka and KuroKen, they're super fun! As always I hope you enjoy this chapter. Kudos and comments mean so much if you feel like you want to leave them! :)


	6. "A place where one should lose one’s head."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I know I don't usually drop in with notes at the beginning of a chapter, but I just want to give a quick warning that this is a smut chapter! Ok, that's it! I hope you enjoy it! :)

“What about this one?” Kei asked standing in front of you, one hand in his pocket and the other hanging a canvas off of two fingers. You scrunched your face in thought.

“It’s too  _ blue _ ” you answered and he scoffed.

“It’s the fucking ocean.” You giggled into the sweater you were wearing, it was Kei’s and it smelt as such. Kei circled around your art studio. It had been about two weeks since that night at Akaashi and Bokuto’s house and the two of you had spent every day together since. You watched as he looked intently at each of your paintings, and it made you blush at how attentive he was being. He picked up another, a large canvas this time, and held it in front of you. You thought for a moment. 

“Don't you think it's too...” You trailed off and he rolled his eyes.

“Too what?” You gazed at the painting, it wasn’t a bad choice, on the contrary, it was some of your best work. But…

“Is it too obvious?” Kei pulled a feigned look of bewilderment.

“What does that even  _ mean?”  _ You shook your head. 

“I don’t know,” you huffed, “this would all feel a lot easier if you were just coming with me.” You crossed your arms and pretended to pout, a move that Kei seemed to find irresistible. He dropped the painting and moved to your side.

“Y/n we talked about this,” he said lowly in your ear “we both have work events this week that we can't miss if I could be there I would.” Kei kissed behind your ear and squirmed a little, but made no attempt to move away.

“I know,’ you sighed into his chest as he wrapped his arms around you. “But this is one of the biggest moves of my career.” You’d been invited to an art exhibit for up-and-coming artists at a local museum. You’d been told to come along, mingle, and to bring some of your work to display in case someone was interested. 

“I know,” Kei mumbled into your hair “but if I’m not at this thing my boss will for-sure fire me.” It also happened to fall on the one night that Kei wasn’t able to accompany you because of some big corporate party. You nodded into his chest before he pulled away and began to search through your work again, pulling out a painting of a forest. He didn’t even ask this time, just cocked his head and raised an eyebrow, but before you could even make a face he put it down and moved on. After a few more minutes of searching, you began to grow bored of the whole activity and began to whine. 

“Ugh this isn’t working,” you said sitting down on your bed in a huff. Kei rolled his eyes and walked over to you. 

“Stop being a baby, your work is great, you're just frustrated.” You crossed your arms.

“Am not”, even though you knew you sounded like a child. “C’mon Kei, I really want you there,” you stood up on the bed, and wobbled a little before he held you still. You were taller than him now, but still not by much. You moved your lips to his ear, “If you come, I’ll let you feel me up behind all the sculptures so nobody can see.” Kei moved his face away from yours and cocked an eyebrow, thinking. He shook his head and groaned loudly, falling onto the bed. You covered your face with your arms, after a few moments you felt a weight next to you. Kei moved to your side, pulling your waist in his strong arms and nuzzling his face against your neck, he didn’t have to talk to know he knew something was wrong.

“What if they hate my work” you mumbled into his sweatshirt, you heard him click his tongue nearby.

“You know that is ridiculous, don’t you? They wouldn’t have invited you otherwise.” You hated it, but he had a point. You let Kei pull you up from where you’d been laying, and sat upright on your bed looking at all the paintings that were splayed out on the ground. 

“That one” you pointed, getting to your feet and walking over to it, Kei followed. It was one of the paintings from the exhibition you’d done a while ago. The one of Kei’s glasses. 

“Good,” he said smugly as he pulled you into him again. You paused there for a minute, staring at the painting, content with your decision. Then, you felt the sharp pain of a hand smacking against your ass, you gasped involuntarily. You turned to see Kei walking towards your door.

“You’ll be great, I’ll pick you up after you're done.” He called from behind “Oh, and don’t forget to wear that tight black dress you wore to the party.” Kei winked and you suddenly felt the flush on your cheeks. You really needed this night to go well. 

~

That night at the museum could not have gone better if you’d tried. You’d spent most of your night mingling with curators and wealthy art enthusiasts who had all been very interested in your work. One woman, who you’d known to be a well-known critic, had even approached you and asked what your biggest inspiration for the piece was. 

“Uuh,” you’d paused, a little sheepish, not really sure how to explain what Kei was to you. “It was inspired by a friend.” She’d hummed in reply.

“A male friend perhaps?” She’d cocked an eyebrow at you presumptuously and you’d nodded, face burning red. She’d laughed.

“Well, if I were you, and I felt as strongly about this glasses man wearing a man as you did. I would certainly make him more than a friend.” You chuckled a little, you’d never thought that your art had so easily depicted your feelings for Kei, but then again you’d never thought your art was worthy of this kind of attention altogether. They were both nice feelings. 

About twenty minutes after this interaction, you were standing at the bar waiting to be served when you’d felt a large hand grab onto your hip. You panicked at the touch, initially thinking that it was one of the countless creepy rich guys that attended these events to hit on young artists. 

“Excuse me!” you’d began while swiveling around “Could you kindly get your hand the fuck off me? I’ll have you know I’m take-” You stopped dead in your tracks when you realized who it was. 

“Taken?” Kei finished for you “Damn, and here I was thinking you liked me.” He looked down at you smugly through glinting glasses. You didn’t know if it was the high of the night or the four martini’s you’d drank from nerves but something made you leap on him.

“Kei!” you screeched as you did so, making a few heads near the bar turn. Kei only chuckled and held your waist close to him. “I thought your big fancy event didn’t finish until 12?”

“Yeah well, we got most of the important business talk done in the first half an hour and after that, I just couldn’t stop thinking about you in this dress,” Kei spoke slyly, making you giggle and bat his arms, making no real attempt to free yourself from his grip. You ordered drinks for you and Kei before making your way over to a quieter corner of the museum to talk. 

“So seriously, how did it go?” you asked him, sipping your drink. 

“Good.” You cocked an eyebrow.

“Good?” He rolled his eyes. “Is that all you have to say.” 

“It’s a long story that I’d rather not get into tonight.” He said and you nodded, still desperate to know. 

“But it was ok, right? Nothing bad happened?” 

“That's generally what “good” means,” Kei said, cocking an eyebrow and taking a sip of his drink. 

“I hate when you’re secretive, do you know that?” you said, no malice in your voice. 

“Good thing you’re already taken then” Kei spat back, to which you stuck out your tongue. “Oh very mature Ms. Professional Museum Artist.” You giggled at this, Kei wasn’t playful often, but when he was it made your heart swell. 

“I sold a painting tonight,” you said after a few moments of silence, you didn’t look at Kei but you could hear him pause, drink near his mouth. “Don’t be so shocked, I thought you had faith in me.” Kei shook his head.

“Of course I do, asshole. This is just a big event, I didn’t even know your work was for sale.” You looked out over the crowd of people who were milling around, your eyes fell on your own painting of Kei’s glasses.

“Neither did I,” you said, turning to face Kei now “but I made that work when I was in a pretty bad place.” You paused, “when we were in a pretty bad place. It was therapeutic at the time, but we’re not in that place anymore, are we?” You turned to Kei expectantly, but he was looking out over the crowd too. 

“No, we’re not,” he said plainly and a small smile rose on your face. “You know, I’m really proud of you (y/n).” He’d said it as though it was the most natural thing in the world, but it had made your heartbeat double-time in your chest. You giggled lightly, trying to hide your embarrassment. Before speaking again.

“God, you’re not going soft on me now are you, Tsukki?” Kei turned his head to you in complete confusion.

“Tsukki?” he repeated, it had sounded so cute coming out of his mouth you couldn’t help but giggle again. 

“Mhm,” you said, taking a sip of your drink. 

“You never call me that, (y/n)... Are you drunk?” you hadn’t thought about it until he’d asked, but once it was out in the open, your laughter had become more and more prominent and your face had become more and more flushed. Kei didn’t wait for an answer, he just sat next to you and sipped his drink quietly, watching him from the corner of his eye.

It hadn’t taken much persuasion honestly, to get Kei to catch up to you drinks wise. You dragged him over to the bar a few more times and made sure you were the one to order, getting yourself something light and barely alcoholic before sticking Kei with a spirit of some sort. 

“I thought you liked whiskey” you pouted, holding up his fifth drink in front of him, he was trying to act more sober than you but you could see the signs that you’d known since you were young. When Kei was drunk, he got handsy, not in a creepy way but he just liked you being close to him. Whether it was close to his side, or sitting on his lap. Right now you were pressed against him in the corner of the room with his hand on the small of your back while you waved a small half-glass full of clinking ice and honey liquid in front of his face. He rolled his eyes and took the drink from your hand and sipped it. He hadn’t seemed to mind you offering him drinks, as long as you stayed close to him as you did so and talked aimlessly about the art you were standing in front of. Right now, the two of you were in the back corner of the museum, staring up at a large sculpture made from recycled materials. Kei stared at you, side-on as you rambled on drunkenly about the meanings behind the piece and the techniques the artist had used. He knew he should have been paying attention, but he was too distracted by how the strap of your tight black dress was falling down, revealing your bare shoulder and neck. 

“Let's go.” Kei blurted out after a few minutes of your rambling. You turned to him a little confused. 

“Are you bored?” your eyes were wide and looked a little hurt. But Kei shook his head.

“No, no no no. I love listening to you talk, I just…” Kei trailed off as his gaze returned to your neck and he bit his lip hungrily. It took you a few seconds but you managed to figure out what his silence meant. You brought your hand to touch where Kei was staring, allowing his attention to return to your giggling face. You pulled him close to you and kissed him a little too roughly for a public display of affection, but Kei didn’t seem to mind. When you finally pulled away, you looked into Kei’s golden eyes,

“I thought I owed you something for showing up?” you said breathily, before kissing him again. Your head was reeling a little, you and Kei had gotten intimate over the past two weeks of your relationship but you hadn’t actually had sex yet. So the feeling of tipsy desire that you had right at this second made your stomach lurch a little. However, this didn’t stop you from grabbing Kei’s hand and pulling him through the crowd to an abandoned area of the museum that you knew wasn’t being used during the exhibit tonight. 

Setting Kei down on one of the plush museum benches that sat in the middle of the unused part of the museum, you instantly straddled him the second he sat. Pulling you into a kiss, Kei began to run his hands up and down your back softly, as your tongues weaved around each other and your fingers found their way to his hair. After a few, passion-filled, minutes of kissing, Kei pulled his face away from yours and huffed, scanning your pink swollen lips up your needy eyes. 

“Are we allowed to be back here?” he asked, and you smiled, trying to look at evil as he often did. 

“Absolutely not,” you said, before reconnecting your mouth with his and tugging at Kei’s hair as you did. Kei’s hands made their way down to your ass and grabbed firmly, making you moan lightly into his mouth. He pulled his mouth away once again, placing small but biting kisses up your jaw until he got to your ear. 

“If we’re not allowed in here,” he said, almost in a growl “then you’re going to have to be quiet for me ok?” The commanding tone of his voice was making you wild, but you took a shaky breath before nodding. Apparently, this wasn’t enough for Kei who dug his fingers into your ass roughly making you bite your lip hard before asking.

“What was that?”

“Y-yes” your answer was dripping with obedience, but it still wasn’t enough for Kei to loosen his grip.

“Yes, who?” he asked in the same low growl as before.

“Yes, K-Kei.” He pulled his fingers away and smacked your ass firmly with one hand.

“Good girl.”

Before you could take another breath, Kei’s mouth was on your neck, sucking and biting hard on any exposed skin he could find. You tried to stifle your moans by pressing your face into his shoulder, but when you felt Kei’s hands pulling your waist closer to his own, pressing the outline of his hard cock against you, you couldn’t help but moan loudly. Kei instantly pulled away, creating as much distance between the two of you without pulling you off of his lap. You made an annoyed sort of screech before he met your eyes disapprovingly. 

“(Y/n).” He said sternly, “Do you want this?” you were taken aback by the sudden use of your name, but you nodded. Kei cocked an eyebrow before you remembered. 

“Oh. Yes, Kei” you tried to smile sweetly and shuffle yourself closer onto his lap but Kei firmed his grip on your hips, which made you frustrated. You were trying to do what you were told, but it was hard when you were this desperate for contact. The space between your thighs that had once been filled with Kei’s crotch felt painfully empty and you squirmed in his grasp. 

“Then, listen.” Kei’s words were simple but commanding.

“Yes Kei,” you found yourself saying, without a second thought and before you knew it Kei was pulling you back into his lap and made contact with your neck again. This time, you weren’t letting something as simple as a groan get between the two of you, so you shoved your face a little firmer into Kei’s neck before grinding your hips against his. You could feel every hard inch against your already wet underwear.

“Fuck” you heard Kei curse into your neck, the sound swelling your head with pride. You ground your hips against him again, and again before you even realized that his large hands had made their way up to your chest and were groping your breasts through your dress. You gasped at the feeling, allowing Kei to pull the straps of your dress down along with your bra, exposing your breasts to him. He paused, staring hungrily at you while you turned your head, a little embarrassed to be so exposed in such a public place. You were expecting Kei to continue, but instead, you felt his hand make its way to your face and stopped at your chin as he pulled in back around so that your faces met. 

“Are you good to keep going?” You were aback by the sudden caring tone in his voice, there was no desire to control you, just a genuine cadence of concern that made your heart swell with love. You smashed your lips back again before replying. 

“Yes, Kei please fuck.” you rolled your hips against his again and allowed one very small moan to escape from you, just enough to let him know that you needed him desperately. 

With that, Kei’s mouth kissed down your jawline, past your collar bone, and made contact with your nipple. 

“Fuck” you whispered into his ear, feeling a smile spread over his lips as he swirled his tongue around your nipple while biting and sucking periodically. The feeling made you wild with desire, as you continued to roll your hips against Kei’s you were suddenly dissatisfied with the layers of fabric that kept the two of you apart. With that, almost as if he’d read your mind, you felt Kei’s hand move down to your core, hiking up your tight black dress so that it bunched up near your middle, leaving you practically bare besides your underwear. 

“Fuck, baby you’re so desperate huh?’ Kei said into your ear “Tell me how desperate you are (y/n).” Kei’s hand made its way down to your covered pussy and pressed his thumb against it making your whole body light up with electricity. But when nothing else came, you realized he was waiting for an answer. 

“K-Kei, I” you huffed, trying to move your hips to create any kind of friction against his hand, but once again Kei was too fucking strong against you. “I’m so fucking desperate Kei, please I need you” the words fell from your mouth shamelessly this time, doing nothing but making the wetness in your underwear increase. Almost instantly, Kei’s hand found contact with you again, his thumb rubbing small but steady circles around your clit through the drenched fabric. You fell into him, moaning just enough that he could hear you, but not so much that it would get you punished. Kei places a few small kisses near your temple. 

“Good girl” he whispered before pulling your underwear to its side and pushing a finger inside of you. He hissed at the feeling of you around him, taking every inch of his long finger. When he witnessed how well you took the first, he quickly added another, this making you whine a little and close your eyes tightly as he pumped his fingers in and out. 

“God you feel so fucking good (y/n),” he praised into your hair.

“K-Kei, I” It was so hard to focus on anything with the feeling of him hitting your g-spot with every thrust into your pussy.

“What do you want, baby?” Kei asked firmly, slowing his fingers when he realized how crazy just two fingers were making you.

“I-I w-want” you huffed, your head was swirling and your body was craving more, yet your mouth didn't want to cooperate. Then, Kei’s free hand that had once been resting your ass made contact with your neck, grabbing firmly between fingers and pushing his palm firmly on your windpipe. You brought your eyes to meet his, he looked at you, completely enthralled at the sight as you tried desperately to take in air but failed miserably. You’d all but forgotten the conversation you and Kei had had years ago, where you’d accidentally let it slip that you liked it pretty rough in the bedroom but god you were glad that he hadn’t. 

“I want you inside me Kei” a small grin spread across his lips before he let your throat go. You tried to focus on taking in air steadily, but before your breath fully came back you felt Kei pull you down onto the bench. He was above you now, as you lay on your back underneath him. You’d never truly noticed how big Kei was, but there was nothing clumsy about him. He moved quickly to pull his fingers out of you, letting you gasp at the sudden feeling of emptiness. Then you felt him sit up a little, hearing the sound of a belt unbuckling and a zipper undoing. Your skin tingled in excitement. Then, suddenly, Kei was back over you and you could feel the head of his cock against your clit.

“Fuck, Kei please” you hissed trying to create more friction but he just laughed darkly and continued to rub against you slowly driving you insane. 

“God if I’d known you were this much of a desperate slut I would have fucked you a long time ago.” He said against your ear. “You’ve been waiting so long, haven’t you? How many times have you thought about this hm? Tell me.” You could tell that Kei was getting off on teasing you, not that you ever expected anything less from him, but what you didn’t expect was how wet it was making you to be spoken down to like this. 

“So many times Kei, fuck. I’ve touched myself thinking about you so many fucking times.” Kei hadn’t expected that much honesty, he’d known you’d been pining over him all this time just as he’d been for you, but he hadn’t known that you’d touched yourself while thinking of him. The thought flipped a switch in Kei’s brain, he couldn’t wait any longer he needed you now. 

Without any warning, Kei lined himself up with you and thrust inside so hard he had to bite his own lip to stop a moan from escaping. And when a squeal escaped your own mouth you felt his strong hand clamp down over it. You looked up at him sheepishly from under him, and he rolled his eyes. Just as you were about to apologize, a set of footsteps could be heard nearby. You froze completely and Kei looked up from where he was. You figured nobody could be that close, because Kei hadn’t gotten off of you, but there was definitely someone close enough to hear the two of you if you continued. At first, you naively thought Kei might wait until the footsteps would become inaudible, but when he looked down to see the slightly panicked look in your eyes you could tell he was going to make you suffer. He brought himself back down to your level, lips at your ear once again. 

“Now you really have to be a good girl for me, we wouldn’t want the respectable young artist caught getting her brains fucked out now would we?” You wanted to hate him for it, you thought about squirming away from his grasp and calling it all off, but the thought that the two of you were so close to being caught only made you want him more. You pulled your face away from his hand and spoke almost inaudibly. 

“Please Kei, fuck me. I don’t care who hears” your hands grasped at his biceps and his smile returned. 

“Suit yourself.” Before you could prepare Kei was pulling out of you almost completely, before thrusting back into you hard, making all the air leave your lungs. He did this twice more before positioning one hand behind your head to anchor himself and the other on your neck and beginning to fuck you hard and fast. Kei was big, bigger than you could have imagined and the feeling of his cock filling every inch of you was driving you completely crazy. You moaned continuously with every passing thrust, you were definitely loud enough to be heard by those close by but Kei’s hand on your neck gave a slight squeeze every time you grew too loud. 

“Fuck, Kei. Harder please” you spat after a few minutes and he doubled down, never letting up a second.

“Fuck baby you’re so fucking tight” he growled, you weren’t used to such blatant praises from Kei, but you weren’t going to refuse them. He pumped in and out of you his tip hitting your g-spot every time without fail, your stomach tensed as the familiar knot-like feeling rose inside it. You tried to hold on, not wanting the feeling of Kei fucking you to end. But as his breaths grew more erratic you could tell that he was getting close too. You tugged at the back of Kei’s neck, bringing his face back to yours and crashed your lips into his. You tugged desperately at his lip with your teeth before moaning into the sound of his mouth lightly.

“K-Kei, I-I wan- fuck” god your fucking mouth, you cursed it for being so uncooperative tonight. Focusing your mind on the feeling of Kei inside you, you tried again.

“Cum inside me Kei. Please” your words were so simple and innocent he couldn’t believe it, but they were all that he’d needed to tip him over the edge that he was already teetering on. You gasped at the feeling of Kei exploding inside you, feeling every single inch of you filled with him made you reach your own orgasm just as quickly. 

“Kei!” you screamed, the sound of your voice bouncing off the large empty museum space. There was no going back now. With a few more erratic and broken thrusts, the pair of you collapsed into each other on the bench, breathing heavily. 

“Fuck” Kei said after a few seconds, pulling you in close to him and pressing a kiss on your temple. 

“Hey Kei,” you said, still completely breathless, he hummed in response. “Are you my boyfriend?” He was silent for a second, panic began to rise in your already heaving chest. 

“After that? I fucking hope so.” He said, sounding a little outraged. You smiled widely into his chest and placed a kiss near his collarbone. 

“Come on,” he said, “We better get dressed before they figured where that scream came from.” Fuck, how quickly you’d forgotten. You apologized to Kei but he just laughed and shook his head and kissed you.

“Don’t be, I can't wait to hear it again. Maybe just somewhere you can be louder next time?” you nodded and moved to redress yourself. 

~

The two of you had managed to sneak out of a side-door of the museum remaining virtually unseen that night. Which you’d been insanely thankful for, Kei had been worried about the sale of your painting and whether you needed to be there at the end of the night. You shook your head, your boss had been at the event also and you’d managed to send him a text shortly after you’d left asking him to meet with the buyer. He had obliged without question thank god, leaving you and Kei to disappear into the dark night looking rather disheveled (more you than him) while walking hand and hand through the city. The two of you had every intention of staying at his place that night, but considering the state of you right now (and the state between your legs) all you wanted was to get to the nearest place that you could shower and put on fresh underwear. You walked slowly, pressing your thighs together in an attempt to conceal the wetness between them.

“Can we please just stay at my place?” you whined to Kei for the third time since you’d left the museum. He hadn’t said no, he just hadn’t given a response at all. This often meant that he was weighing the options in his head. You decided to make it easier for him. 

“It’s a Saturday, you don’t have to wake up early for work in the morning, my place is right around the corner  _ and  _ I will buy you breakfast tomorrow  _ and  _ watch I will watch The Land Before Time with you in the morning.” You knew Kei, and you knew his mind. There could not possibly be anything else he could be considering as an issue. He looked at you and thought.

“The Land Before Time?” he asked, a little confused. You rolled your eyes.

“Yes it is a kids cartoon  _ but  _ it has dinosaurs,” you gestured your hand towards him before back at yourself “you like dinosaurs, I like cartoons.” He thought again, you knew it was a fair deal, if he tried to get you to watch a documentary you would be way too bored and if you watched Jurassic Park again you would spend the entire movie talking about how Jeff Goldblum was immortal and could also “get it”. 

“I don’t have anything to sleep in at your place” he smirked, he knew he’d got you with that one. But you crossed your arms trying to think of something quickly. 

“I have like all your old volleyball t-shirts and hoodies, remember?” Kei clicked his tongue.

“But you don’t have any pants I can wear.” He retorted it was your turn to scoff. 

“You’re wearing underwear aren’t you?” you said, trying to make him sound ridiculous just so he’d cave. “And besides, you’re my boyfriend. I think I can see you in your underwear.”

“It’s not as if you haven’t seen me in mine” you mumbled and his smirk grew wider. He didn’t answer, just started off down the street, just slow enough so that you could catch up and catch his hand in yours. 

When you got to your studio, you took your time searching through your small purse for your keys. 

“Jesus, that thing is the size of an envelope. How hard can it be to find them?” Kei snapped but you just smiled and held the keys in his face and jingled them. You made to unlock the door but paused before opening it, looking to Kei with your best doe-eyed expression.

“Keeeei” you began.

“Tch”

“Pleeease” he knew what you wanted.

“No, I am not going to get your mail now. We can go down and get it in the morning.” The mailroom of your building was in the basement, making it not only creepy but also two steep flights of steps down. 

“But I ordered stuff for work and I need it!” You groaned but he shook his head.

“You don’t need it until Monday we can go down a-” but he stopped and scoffed loudly as he noticed a single tear rolling down your face. 

“Don’t do that,” Kei spat. “it’s creepy I don't like it.” You’d learned how to fake-cry pretty convincingly in around your first year in college. It had never really worked to tug on Kei’s heart-strings as you’d hoped but instead just made him intensely freaked out. You pouted your lip, letting a few more tears roll down your cheeks. 

“Fine.” He finally conceded. “God, you’re annoying.” Your face changed instantly, smiling widely, you brushed the tears from your face and pecked Kei’s cheek before unlocking the door. 

“Thanks, babe,” you said, making for the stairs as Kei broke off from you and headed to the basement. 

“You’re a brat,” he said as he began to descend. 

You made your way up the stairs of your apartment humming lightly to yourself as you did. Just as you reached the top of the stairs you noticed that something wasn’t quite right. The air around you felt, disturbed and from the small gap at the bottom of your door, you could see that the light was on inside. You could have sworn that you’d switched everything off before you left, considering you’d thought you were going to be at Kei’s all weekend. But after considering waiting for Kei to come back, you chalked it up to forgetfulness and made your way inside. 

“Tetsuro?” you said, the second you saw his dark, spiky hair pacing around the room. He turned to you, eyes wide and panicked, he rushed over to you and pulled you into him.

“Jesus,” he hissed “(y/n) where the fuck have you been? We’ve been calling you for weeks and texting and we haven’t heard anything.” We? You thought for a second before looking over to see Kenma sitting upside down with his head hanging off your couch, fingers moving furiously against his Switch. You pulled away from Kuroo and tried to piece together what was happening, you knew you’d had at least a few messages from Kuroo but you hadn’t really thought much of it. It wasn’t that you’d been ignoring him intentionally, you’d just been busy. You chuckled a little, not in an amused way but in disbelief, and shook your head. 

“I’m fine Tetsuro, I’m sorry I’ve just had a busy week and-” 

“God how much fucking stuff did your order?” you heard Kei say behind you.  _ Fuck,  _ you thought. It suddenly dawned on you the reason you’d been so busy the past two weeks, and with that came the even larger realization that you hadn’t actually told Kuroo about the reason you were so busy the past two weeks. 

“Kuroo?” Kei said, plainly, but still an air of confusion in his voice. 

“Oh my god” you heard from behind Kuroo. You looked back to Kenma who was now right side up and putting his console down. 

“Listen, guys, this isn’t” you paused, because it absolutely was. “Well, it is, but I just didn’t- I’ve been busy and I just… Well, I forgot” you bit your lip and looked at Kuroo who looked completely stunned.

After a while of deafening silence, he finally spoke. His voice was dazed and a little hoarse.

“Um- so uh. You guys… you’re, yano.” He gestured between the two of you and you smiled sheepishly. You felt Kei’s now packageless hand snake around your in the middle and placed a smirking kiss on top of your head. You elbowed his side, keeping your gaze on Kuroo. 

“Uh, yeah. We’re uh” 

“Dating” Kei finished the sentence. Somewhere deep inside you could feel your heart skip at the thought of him saying it out loud for the first time, but it was completely shrouded under the guilt you were currently feeling. Kuroo’s hand dropped and he nodded, almost completely spaced out. You pulled away from Kei and made for Kuroo, grabbing your friend by his large biceps and shaking a little. 

“I’m so sorry! I promise I wasn’t keeping it from you! It was just that night at the party after you guys left, I needed to get home and Kei offered and-”

“Oh my god!” Kenma was louder now, almost yelling for him. He shot up from the couch and bounced over to where you were. You were completely perplexed by the sudden level of enthusiasm he had. “It worked! It fucking worked!” He said laughing lightly before pulling the hem of his husband’s shirt. “Kuroo? Are you hearing this? He walked her home! Akaashi said it would work but I didn’t thi-”. 

“Akaashi?” Kei asked from behind you. You’d almost missed that part. The two of you turned to Kenma with furrowed brows. He dropped his hands to his sides and looked at you both in disbelief. 

“Oh come on,” he jeered “you didn’t really think that our neighbour just  _ happened  _ to have a massive bathtub leak, destroying thousands worth of equipment on the  _ exact same  _ night that you two were supposed to see each other for the first time in a  _ year,  _ did you?” He paused expectantly, neither of you answering, before murmuring. “Well  _ supposed  _ to have not seen each other at least. But salty here just couldn’t keep away.” Kenma was smirking now, and you were both still stunned. 

“Y-you, you guys planned it? That night, you guys pushed us together on purpose? So that we’d make up?” You turned to Kuroo, mouth agape, who was looking back at you sheepishly now. 

“Oh my god” Kei took the words right out of your mouth. 

“It wasn’t our idea!” Kuroo called to Kei who was turning behind him to close the door which had been abandoned in the shock. 

“You guys made up an excuse to leave? So you could push us together? How did you even know Kei would offer?” you were louder than you’d mean to be and your arms were waving around a little wildly. Kuroo and Kenma mimicked your looks of disbelief, turning to each other and beginning to laugh. 

“What?” you asked over their giggling, Kuroo managed to compose himself long enough to answer.

“Oh come on (y/n), Tsukki might be the grumpy silent type but he isn’t a  _ complete _ mystery to us.” You turned to Kei whose lips were pressed together in annoyance. He looked at the confusion on your face and rolled his eyes.

“They’re saying they knew that I would never leave you to walk home alone. Yano, because, I care… and stuff” He got quieter as he spoke and blush rose up your neck.

“Oh.” Kenma’s giggling got louder as he clung to Kuroo for balance.

“Oh my god! Look how cute they are Kuroo! They’re like teenagers!” You rolled your eyes and looked back to Kuroo. 

“So if it wasn’t your idea, then it was” you trailed off 

“Akaashi, yeah,” Kuroo said, turning to Kenma who was still laughing as he walked back over to his Switch.

“But how?” you asked. Kuroo opened his mouth but you felt Kei’s hand on your shoulder.

“I’m guessing when he and Bo decided to throw a party, they knew it would be the perfect time to get us back in the same room together. So he called these two before the party and asked them if they could leave early then he got Bo to make up an excuse and then when he knew that I wouldn’t leave you to walk home alone…”

“All he had to do was sit back and hope we’d come to our senses” you finished and Kuroo nodded, a small smile appearing on his face. You shook your head and rubbed your temples. 

I need a drink, you said, dropping your bag and heading to the small kitchen area. Kei followed you, hands in pockets. 

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough tonight?” he sported a shit-eating grin and he strolled towards you, hands in his pockets. You scowled as you poured vodka into a glass and added some ice cubes. 

“Are you guys joining me?” you called behind you to Kuroo and Kenma. Kuroo nodded, but Kenma just continued to play, still chuckling slightly to himself. You poured two more and thrust one at Kei. 

“It’ll give you something to do instead of talk,” you said unimpressed. He smirked, taking the drink from your hand. You joined Kuroo, sitting opposite him and Kenma on a chair. Kei followed you, swatting your arm, wordlessly you stood and allowed him to sit, plopping into his lap. 

“Aww look at them Kuroo! Already so romantic” Kenma said not looking up from his game. You chose to ignore it. Kuroo took a long sip of his drink before looking at you apologetically. 

“Look, I’m sorry we didn’t tell you about Kaashi’s plan. It seemed like a good idea at the time.” You sighed and looked to Kei who shrugged half-heartedly and sipped his own drink. 

“It’s fine,” you smiled “I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch. Everything just happened so fast, and then with the show tonight I-” 

“Show?” Kuroo asked, peering up from his drink quizzically.

“She had a museum show,” Kei began, Kuroo looked at you and you nodded “she sold one of her paintings.” Kuroo broke into a grin.

“(y/n)! That’s amazing! You should be proud.” You smiled and laughed lightly, feeling the flush from earlier returns.

“Thank you Tetsuro, I really am.” You were all silent for a minute, all looking rather pleased before Kenma held his Switch in the air over the table. He looked at the three of you. 

“To (y/n)” he said smugly. You giggled lightly and Kuroo rolled his eyes. Kei leaned forward next to you and tapped his glass against Kenma’s console. 

“To (y/n)” he echoed. You and Kuroo joined then, both still laughing. Everyone was silent after that, the three of you drinking comfortably while Kenma tapped away all the while Kei’s hand was wrapped firmly around your waist. You took a deep breath, trying to take in everything that had happened tonight, smiling constantly at how happy you felt. Just then, Kei broke the silence. 

“We had sex in the museum tonight yano.” It was muffled by his glass meeting his lips, but you knew everyone had heard it. Suddenly you were redder than you’d been all evening. 

“Oh my god,” Kuroo said, looking at you, face once again painted with disbelief. 

“Oh my god” Kenma seconded, putting his Switch down for the second time tonight. You looked to Kei who continued to sip his drink, an evil grin under his glass. 

“Is that why you look like you’ve been dragged through a bush?” Kuroo asked. You let out an outraged breathy laugh, while Kei let out a genuine one. Your head snapped back to him. 

“Are you pleased with yourself Tsukishima?” It felt weird calling Kei by his last name. The last time you’d done it, it had been so hate-filled. But this time it was playful, and completely oozing with admiration. 

“Very pleased.” Kei quipped, his grip tightening around your waist as he did. 

You spent the next hour trying to dissuade Kuroo and Kenma away from the gory details of your evening. However, of course, you miserably failed, ending up recounting the whole tail to them. After a while of talking and drinking and laughing the two rose to leave. 

“Sorry for surprising you like we did,” Kuroo said sheepishly near the door, Kema had already made his way downstairs. You patted his arm and shook your head. 

“It’s ok, I’m sorry for making you think I was dead” you smiled. 

“Even?” he asked, pulling you into a hug.

“Definitely.” 

“Breakfast tomorrow? I want both of you there,” he said, letting you go. You looked to Kei before nodding, he followed suit. Kuroo looked between the two of you and laughed, making his way out the door. “Yano, I don’t think there are two other people on the  _ earth _ who could have dragged that out as long as you guys did.” He smiled at you both before descending down the stairs. 

“Stubborn assholes!” He called back. You looked to Kei and smiled, well, he wasn’t wrong, was he? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, this was my first time writing actually detailed smut and I think I did pretty ok! As always I hope you enjoy this chapter. Kudos and comments mean so much if you feel like you want to leave them! I'd also just like to thank the people who have been bookmarking this fic! Any kind of interaction with my work keeps me more motivated than you could ever imagine, so thank you! :)


	7. Epilogue

Your heels clapped haphazardly against the concrete as you basically sprinted behind Kei. He was clutching your hand in his and pulling you along swiftly. Kei, of course, was not sprinting. No, his long legs strode along at a mere fast walking pace, his hand tugging at yours occasionally and muttering something about keeping up as he weaved through the city’s morning foot-traffic. Eventually, when you almost got your thin heel lodged in a grate, and he made to keep going you yanked hard at his hand, pulling him back to your side where you were huffing. 

“ _ Heels Kei,”  _ you said trying to catch your breath. “I’m in heels!” Kei rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets giving you a minute.

“We only have a half-hour (y/n), we’ll never make it if you don't hurry!” You straightened yourself and met Kei’s eyes. 

“Kei, it’s there permanently! We can just go tomorrow!” But Kei shook his head, averting his attention to the watch you’d given him for his birthday on his wrist. 

“Tomorrow won’t be the first day it’s there, we still have time if you run.” He made to start off down the street again but you pulled at his jacket. 

“Again Kei, may I remind you I’m in  _ heels?  _ I can’t run!” He stared at your feet for a minute before returning to your glinting eyes. 

“No,” he said, seemingly having caught on to what you were saying. 

“The longer you resist the less time we’ll have,” you stated, very pleased with yourself. Within seconds, Kei was bending down and letting you climb onto his back. 

“You’re gonna give me back problems,” he said annoyedly but you just swatted his shoulder and pointed forward giggling a little. 

Kei had dropped you a few yards from your destination with no warning. He’d let go of your legs that were wrapped around him and you went stumbling to the ground. He’d just rolled his eyes and muttered something about you being a baby deer before helping you to your feet and leading you into the museum. 

The museum was as quiet as the grave beside the small clack of your heels against the hard marble flooring. They’d barely been open 15 minutes, and considering it was a week-day, there were hardly people walking around. You and Kei had frequented the museum a lot in the past two years of your relationship, whether it was for your own art shows, the ones of your colleagues or just for the occasional casual Sunday afternoon date, it had become somewhat of a constant in your relationship and you both felt very at home there. You passed a few familiar staff members as you flitted through the halls, giving them all a warm smile as Kei led you along. Eventually, you arrived in a small back section of the museum that was completely deserted besides the two of you, Kei weaved around the sculptures and plush benches to the very back wall, stopping you dead in front of a canvas. Neither of you spoke, you just stood, he was behind you now with his hands on your shoulders. You took in a very long breath, trying to process what you were seeing. 

“It looks different in this light,” you breathed and Kei chuckled, pressing a small kiss on your head. 

“It’s your first piece of permanent work in a museum, how does it feel being a big time artist now?” You shook your head and laughed airily. It all felt extremely surreal. It felt like five minutes ago you’d been invited to your first show here, now you were standing in front of one of your most well-known pieces that would be staying in this museum on permanent display. Life really was funny sometimes. 

“I still wish I could have reworked the trees near the bottom, that will always bother me,” you said, leaning your back against Kei and he “tch”ed. 

“You’re never happy, are you?” You laughed and turned to look up at Kei, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“I’m pretty happy right now, actually,” you said, pressing your lips softly against his. He hummed as he pulled away, before averting his eyes behind you again, eyes widening. When you turned to see what he was looking at, you saw his watch-clad wrist raised in the air. You rolled your eyes and he sighed. 

“Five minutes, then we really have to go.” He conceded and you smiled, moving back to his side and letting him wrap his arm around you. 

“It’s really great, (y/n),” he said quietly, you were both suddenly aware of how peaceful it was here. You nodded, even though he was staring straight forward. 

“Yano what else is great?” you said and he just nodded a little for you to continue. You turned Kei by his shoulders so that he was facing you again before straightening his jacket for him. “You in this suit!” The flick of Kei’s tongue rang out across the empty museum gallery.

“You’ve seen me in this a hundred times,” he said plainly. He wasn’t wrong, but it didn’t change how incredible it looked on him. It was a deep navy with a slight plaid pattern, it was understated but flawless. Rather than the conventional shirt and tie, Kei had opted for a black turtleneck and shoes that matched his tortoise shell glasses, for a guy who didn’t care about looks, Kei was unreasonably fashionable. You brought both of your palms to rest on his chest and smiled up at him, he looked at you, and you could have sworn you saw the slightest look of embarrassment in his eyes. 

“I remember the last time you wore this,” you said, tapping one of your fingers against his chest. “Tetsuro and Kenma’s wedding, you looked so good then too but I never told you.” Your eyes were far away now, as you thought back to that night with Kei. It all felt like worlds away, like a weird dream that had stuck with you. A small squeeze of your arms brought you back to reality and you gave Kei a small smile. 

“We don’t wanna be late,” Kei said quietly, pulling his arm over your shoulders and moving you down the hallway. You nodded and followed. 

~

You entered the venue, arm in Kei’s, and your breath was taken away instantly. The place was huge, high ceilings and architecture that had your eyes darting around wildly trying to take the whole place in. You and Kei weaved through the large crowd and found your seats at your assigned table, right next to Kuroo and Kenma who smiled at your presence. You’d only seen them about half an hour ago at the reception, but somehow the two had managed to get unimaginably tipsy in the small-time you’d been away and yes, it really was the two of them. Kuroo, you had seen inebriated thousands of times, at any wedding or large event you guys had attended he had always managed to find the booze first and get a head start on everyone else. Kenma being drunk however, well that was new, even to you. The two sat as close as possible, Kema with his legs draped over Kuroo’s lap while using his hand on his shoulder as an anchor as he leaned closer to Kuroo, running his other hand through his hair. 

“Tsukki! (y/n)!” by the volume of the words, you would have bet money on them being Kuroo’s, but no. 

“Kenma! Are you guys drunk?” You let Kei pull your chair out for you before plopping down next to Kuroo. Kenma leaned closer to you over Kuroo’s lap waving a champagne flute in your face.

“It has bubbles, like mountain dew!” You and Kuroo both laughed as Kenma leant back and let his head drop on to Kuroo’s shoulder which Kuroo patted mindlessly. 

“So why didn’t you sit with us at the reception? You guys barely made it before it started,” Kuroo asked you and Kei. 

“Oh just, traffic,” you said, taking the drink that Kei offered to you. Kei’s tongue clicked, you’d hoped Kuroo was drunk enough not to notice but there was no such luck. He looked past you to Kei with a cocked eyebrow. Kei’s eyes met Kuroo’s and then your pleading ones, the ones you hoped were screaming “ _ this isn’t the time!”  _ Kei seemed to get the signal but wasn’t backing down. 

“Tell him,” he said, a smirk playing on his lips. 

“ _ Kei, _ ” you half-whispered, knowing you were both being incredibly obvious. 

“What? Tell me what?” Kuroo asked a little louder this time. You patted his shoulder and his head dipped down so that you could whisper to him. 

“Today was the opening of a permanent display of my work in the museum downtown, it’s no big deal and I don’t want to make a fuss about it.” You’d hoped your hushed tone would help Kuroo realise that you were trying not to draw attention to it, but when he gasped you knew you weren’t so lucky. He turned to Kenma instantly repeating what you’d just told him in a much louder voice. You swatted at his arm hard and Kei laughed into his drink. 

“Ouch! What the hell!” he said rubbing at his arm through his burgundy suit sleeve, which you yanked at to pull him back down to your level again. 

“Today isn’t our day, and I don’t want my news to overshadow the day ok? We can talk about it another time.” Kuroo thought for a minute and then nodded a smile playing on his lips. 

“What?” you asked, knowing what Kuroo’s suspicious face often looked like. Suddenly Kenma’s face was close to yours again.

“We have a secret too!” he said in a sing-song voice giggling a little as Kuroo tried to shush him. 

“Kuroo?” Kei asked from behind you, it seemed that both of them had been listening to your and Kuroo’s conversation. Kuroo sighed, squeezing his eyes shut before reopening them and speaking. 

“Okay but you guys can’t say anything! Like you said, this isn’t our day we can’t steal any thunder.” You nodded and felt Kei lean in behind you. Kuroo looked to a giggling Kenma and then back to the two of you, a smile back on his lips. 

“We’re pregnant.” You looked between the two of them, trying to process what had just been revealed. 

“So you’re gonna…,” you trailed off in shock but Kenma’s giggling face lent in again. 

“The surrogate had her first appointment last week, we’re going to have a baby.” It took everything for you not to scream. You opened your mouth to congratulate the two but just then a voice projected over the speakers. 

“ _ Ladies and gentlemen please join me in welcoming the newly married couple Koutarou and Keiji Bokuto! _ ” Before you knew it, you felt Kei’s hand pulling you out of your chair. It took you a few seconds to register what was happening but when you saw the doors to the room open and suit-clad Bokuto and Akaashi walk in hand and hand your smile returned and you began to clap. Right, this was their day. 

~

After dinner and some dancing, Bo and Akaashi began to make the rounds. When they arrived at your table, you sprang up instantly to pull them both into a huge hug. Kei sat back in his chair, sipping his drink and watching you bounce around tipsily. He’d tried to regulate your drink intake tonight, knowing that you’d only end up blaming him when you were hungover tomorrow but as he watched you chatter happily with Akaashi about something he noticed how beautiful you looked. The small flush on your cheeks as you laughed into your hand, the way your pale pink dress swayed at you shifted around absentmindedly, you weren’t very good at staying still when you were drunk. A small feeling of pride washed over Kei, pride in how far the two of you had come since the last wedding you’d attended together, pride in knowing that you’d made it work regardless of all the stupid things. But Kei’s thoughts were cut off by a large hand on his shoulder, he looked to Bo standing over him.

“Tsukki! You’re here!!” He beamed down at the blonde and Kei rose smiling a little more than he usually liked. 

“Hey Bo congrat-,” Kei had outstretched his hand hoping Bo would just shake it, keeping to Kei’s long-standing  _ don’t touch me  _ rule that he’d had with all of his friends. But in an ever Bo-like fashion, he pulled Kei into a large back-breaking hug. Kei usually would have pushed him away, but considering the circumstances, he just sighed and let it happen. 

“I’m so glad you guys are here,” he said, a little glassy-eyed and Kei just patted his shoulder. Kei was trying to think of some way to respond, but luckily Kuroo strolled over saving the day. 

“You’re not crying again are you Bo?” he said, swinging his arm over his friend's shoulder. Bo took a deep breath and wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his jacket. 

“N-no, I was just excited to see Tsukki that’s all!” Kuroo laughed and shook his head.

“You’re kidding, no way!” Akaashi’s voice said from a ways away, the three men turned their heads to see all three of their partners conversing giddily, each with large smiles on their faces.

“What’s that about?” Bo asked, brow furrowed. Kei’s eyes instantly met Kuroo’s panicked ones behind Bo’s head. 

“Er, probably just about (y/n)’s exhibit that opened today,” Kuroo’s tense shoulders relaxed and he mouthed a small ‘ _ thank you _ ’ behind Bokuto. Kei’s gaze returned to Bo who’s eyebrows were raised expectantly. 

“Really? That’s amazing.” Kei tried to hide his grin in his drink but failed miserably as he nodded. 

“I can’t  _ believe  _ Salty-shima finally managed to bag his dream girl,” Kuroo laughed followed quickly by Bo. Kei rolled his eyes in response.

“Oh come on! You have to admit it was touch and go there for a while! Remember how broken she was that night at Kuroo’s wedding! And after you went to her studio!” The second it left Bo’s mouth he knew he’d gone too far. He bit his lip waiting to gauge Kei’s response. When nothing came Kuroo jumped back in.

“But hey everything worked out in the end right?” Kei could see Bo nodding in his periphery, but his eyes were glued on you laughing airily with Akaashi and Kenma. Had he really broken you?

~

After a few more hours of drinking and dancing, Bokuto’s giddy voice arose over the speakers.

“Uh, he again everyone! I promise this is the last time we’re going to interrupt your evening!” He paused, evidently trying to steady his shaking voice. For someone so confident he sure didn’t like speaking in public.

“But I have a surprise for Akaashi outside, and I was hoping you would all join me.” The crowd began to follow Bokuto slowly out of the venue onto the large lawn outside. Kei led you along with his hand on your shoulder, while Kuroo carried Kenma on his back next to you. When you arrived outside, Bokuto stood at the edge of the lawn looking incredibly pleased with himself. In each hand, he was clutching an already lit sparkler. From the front of the crowd, Akaashi made his way over to him smiling widely and kissed his husband.

“Sparklers?” Akaashi asked, not underwhelmed, just a little confused. Bo’s eyes lit up with excitement. 

“Just wait.” With that, a large explosion could be heard overhead. You jumped so high that you would have fallen off your heels if it wasn’t for Kei’s grip on you. You looked up to the sky to see a plume of red and white sparks cascading down before fading into the black. 

“Fireworks baby!” you heard Bo shout before lifting Akaashi into the air. The crowd dispersed a little, everyone finding their own space to watch the display.

You stood wrapped in Kei’s arms as you watched, his chin resting on the top of your head. You looked around, seeing all your friends' faces, wide-eyed with smiles as they watched. You heard the occasional “ooh” or “aah” from Bo and the occasional murmur from Kuroo and Kenma, but they were all too far away to make out what they were saying. Kei, however, was quiet, which wasn’t unusual, except for the fact that he’d had a notorious history of complaining at the way through any fireworks you’d ever watched together. In high school, you would drag him to the local spring festival show every year. And every year he would complain at how pointless they were, and how unnecessarily loud they could be and how the smell of the sulfur made him nauseous. But you loved the smell of the sulfur and the thunderous sounds they made even when you weren’t expecting them and Kei had to make sure you didn’t topple over in surprise. 

“You’re awfully quiet,” you said, turning to look at Kei, you could see you’d pulled him back from some kind of deep thought. His brow furrowed. 

“Kei?” 

“Did I break you?” he asked abruptly. You spun around fully now, pulling his hand into yours trying to make out what he was saying.

“What?” he sighed, trying to compose himself and explain. 

“That night, at the wedding and when I showed up to your studio. That whole fight.” He paused or a second and closed his eyes. “Bokuto said I broke you, were you really broken?”

You were silent, you hadn’t talked about those nights with Kei in such a long time you didn’t know he was still thinking about them. You looked up at Kei, his eyes looking so worried that all you wanted to do was kiss him and remind him that everything was good now but that wasn’t what he’d asked. 

“I don’t think I was ever broken, maybe just a little chipped.” You smiled up at Kei weakly who reciprocated it with a small chuckle. His eyes made their way back up to the sky before he spoke again.

“I don’t think I ever apologised,” he said. You began to protest but he cut you off. “Not for the night at the wedding but for what I said about your work.” You shrugged lightly, trying to remind Kei that it was all in the past. 

“It’s no big deal Kei I-”

“I called your work shitty, that’s a big deal” 

“Well, technically you actually called my studio shitty so-”

“Same difference,” Kei scoffed and shook his head. “I was so awful that night.” He looked out over the night sky, cursing the mistakes he’d made two years ago before he heard you talk softly.

“You were scared,” you said, “we both were.” He looked into your eyes deeply and squeezed your hands in his. “Someone once told me that you shouldn’t be scared to need people in your life, I think we both needed to learn that.”

“I’m really sorry, about everything (y/n).” You shook your head and pulled Kei closer to you. 

“Don’t be, we fixed it. Together,” you whispered before closing the gap between you, tangling your hands in his sandy hair as he pulled you into him, making sure you were as close as possible without stumbling. You stayed there for a few minutes before parting again. When you did you realised that everyone was beginning to make their way back inside and the sky was dark again but neither of you made any attempt to move. You looked up at Kei who was watching you intently, a little guilt still lingering in his eyes but nothing that you couldn’t fix. 

“Yano you weren’t wrong exactly,” you said quietly to Kei, “the studio is pretty shitty.” Kei laughed and rubbed his nose against yours softly. 

“I’ve been telling you that for years asshole,” you nodded. 

“So maybe it’s time we found somewhere new?” You could see him processing it, as though he had almost missed the point of the sentence. 

“We?” he repeated and stifled a laugh.

“Well your place is pretty boring, and mine is shitty so maybe we both need an upgrade.” Kei didn’t answer, he just pulled you back into him and kissed you a little harder this time. You were both silent when you parted, just taking in the now silent garden around you. You marvelled at the lingering feeling of joy in your chest before Kei spoke again. 

“For clarification,” he said, voice back to his usual deadpan-self, “you do mean moving in together right? Because I cannot deal with another two years of you paying rent somewhere you never sleep.” You laughed and shook your head and Kei’s face went from smug to assured. 

That night, you and Kei danced again. Just like your last wedding together. But this time, when you pulled him out into the corridor he was the one who initiated the kiss. There wasn’t a single hint of hesitation in it and you stood, with hands tangled in Kei’s hair. Your feet barely grazed the ground as he held you up by your hips, you noticed how unbelievably light you felt, both physically and deep within your chest. There was an overwhelming feeling of perfection, as though the wrongs from all those years ago had been righted. The scale had tipped back in your and Kei’s favour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Sorry about the gap between this chapter and the last! I found it truly difficult to part with this story so it took a while to write! As always, kudos and comments are so rewarding if you feel so inclined! I hope you enjoy it! :) Thank you so much if you stuck around through this whole fic, this is the first long-form thing I've written in a while and it really means so so much! I hope I'll see you again sometime! <3


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